Seven Story Reason
by eight-cent-plantation
Summary: It came on slowly. It'd been building for years. The government was blind and so many lives were on the verge of being destroyed. How could someone fall in love in a world so dark, so dangerous?James Potter said he couldn't, but she would show him the way
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:**** My name is Kristin. I claim no ownership to J.K. Rowling's brilliance and copyrights. This is merely a fanfiction and I am not profiting from it in any way. J.K. Rowling is the owner of all things Harry Potter. I am responsible for the storyline and any characters that are not of J.K. Rowlings creation. In short... this is just for fun. =)**

_Author's Note: Welcome, one and all, to my latest James/Lily fanfiction. I hope that you enjoy, and I apologize in advance for the time that may or may not lapse between updates. It's pretty much up in the air. Please review, if you don't mind, with any compliments and/or constructive critisisms whenever you see fit. If you're just going to use the review button to insult me and/or the story in a non-constructive way, your review will be deleted. Thanks for your time, everyone, and once again, I hope you enjoy it..._

**Chapter One: The Death of Us**

It came on suddenly...

It came on so suddenly, and yet, it had been building slowly for many years. It had been building since before a lot of the lives that it stole or ruined had even begun. Building... Gaining momentum... Growing stronger... And yet, nobody had known that it was happening. Nobody had seen it coming...not until they broke out into the public for the first time. Not until his name became known...

Those who opened their Daily Prophets on the morning of June 11th would have many different reactions to the headline that greeted them: shock, sorrow, utter devistation... The article would read like a horror story.

_Murder In The Mountains_

_Ministry of Magic officials arrived at the home of the well-known Potter family late last night when young James Potter, 17, sent an urgent message for help. According to an anonymous Ministry source, the young man was concerned about finding a large skull with a snake coming out of its mouth floating above his home. "He said that it wreaked of Dark Margic, those were the words he used..."_

_When the Aurors and Magical Law Enforcement arrived around 11:30pm, Potter was in the living room trying desperately to revive his parents using the 'enervate' spell. On the wall, a message greeted everyone. It was written, reportedly, using the blood of one of the Potters' house elves. _

"_One of many and there will be many more: BOW TO LORD VOLDEMORT."_

_No more information is available as of this paper's publication and distribution. Tomorrow's paper will feature a section chronicaling the lives, work and contributions of Harold and Anna Potter along with any new information that the Ministry of Magic decides to release._

The Potters had been a great asset to the Wizarding community. They donated countless amounts of gold to worthy causes, hosted annual benefit dinners for St. Mungo's Hospital... The loss was a horrbile one for the whole Wizarding Community.

James Potter had been forceably removed from the scene by Auror Joseph Lupin and taken into the kitchens. Joseph tried in vain to calm to boy as he sent messages to both his wife and to newly appointed Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft And Wizardry Albus Dumbledore.

Dumbledore arrived on the scene minutes later to find Joseph pouring a considerable amount of firewhiskey into a glass and handing it to a still sobbing James. "Drink up," he was saying. "It'll help, I promise."

"Joseph," Dumbledore said, nodding to him.

"Albus...it's terrible."

"I am going to cast a disillusionment charm and take a look around," said Dumbledore. "I will need to speak with James afterward."

"He's in no place for it, Albus," said Joseph over James' sobs. I'm taking him home. He can spend the night with my family...with Remus. You can come see him tomorrow, when he's calmer."

"You may be right," Dumbledore said, his eyes full of saddness as he looked James up and down. "Take him now. Meet me at my _office_ later tonight."

"What time?"

"When you get done at the Ministry will be fine."

Without another word, Dumbledore took out his wand and performed his disillusionment charm. Once he disappeared, Joseph sighed. He took the half empty glass of firewhiskey from James' hands and linked arms with him. "I'll get your stuff later," he said. James nodded. "Do you have your wand on you still?" Another nod. "Okay."

They disapparated.

As soon as they appeared in the Lupins' living room, James collapsed, a new wave of tears and sobs overtaking him. His glasses fogged up completely once again, but he didn't care. He needed out. He needed to run...

"I'll go get Remus and Alice," Joseph said after a moment. "Your things will be here by morning... I think it best if you stay here for a while."

Without waiting for a response he knew he wouldn't get, Joseph walked toward the stairs. As soon as he was gone, James scrambled to his feet, wiping his eyes and glasses with his shirt. The window to his left was open, so he climbed out of it as quickly as he could. before his feet could even hit the ground, James was Prongs. And Prongs was running. He ran as fast as he could, as if the simple act would make it all go away... as if he could run from reality itself.

* * *

Remus Lupin ran a hair through his prematurely graying hair. His eyes darted this way and that... He was searching for James Potter in the field next to his home. After about three minutes of searching, his eyes fell upon a large stag running a couple of hundred feet ahead of him.

_Damn furry problem... It would really benefit me to be able to become and animagus,_ Remus thought as he began to run. "Prongs!" he called out. If the stag heard him, he did not acknowledge it. "PRONGS!" Remus shouted as loud as he could, ran as fast as his body would allow.

A stabbing pain began to plague his gut, and so Remus slowed to a walk. "Merlin..." he muttered. He walked on slowly, breathing heavily.

Meanwhile, a good distance ahead of him, Prongs stopped running. The pain of it all was too much to outrun... And so he collapsed as he transformed back into James for what seemed like the millionth time that night.

Remus sped up again, ignoring his pain. He was at James' side within seconds. James looked up at him, his face contorted in something much worse than physical pain. "Remus," he croaked.

"I know, James," Remus said, setting himself down beside his long time friend. "I know... I'm so...I'm so sorry." It was tearing Remus up to see his friend suffer that much. He reached out, placing his hand on James' shoulder. James turned into his friend's arm, wrapping his own around Remus' torso.

"They gone," he managed to say through his sobs. "They're dead."

Remus began to rub James' back, attempting to calm him down enough to convince him to go back to the house. "I know," he said. "I'm so sorry..."

Long moments passed before James finally started to calm down a little bit. Remus saw his small window of oportunity and acted upon it. "James, lets go back to the house," he said. "Mum was making tea... It'll help you fall asleep, alright?"

James nodded after a minute of contemplation and allowed himself to be lead back to the Lupins' home.

* * *

_Sirius and Peter-_

_In no way have I forgiven you for what you did to myself and Severus Snape, so don't go thinking that you're now off the hook. All that aside, however, our friend needs us. I know that you know what's happened because you've been sending James letters daily for the past two weeks. He's been at my place, but he hasn't been reading his mail. Nor has he been eating. I hear him in the middle of the night... He can't sleep, he has nightmares about what happened. I'm very worried about him. Professor Dumbledore came by to see him on the 11th and he wouldn't even leave the bedroom for _him_. He's been in there since the night it happened... So while I may not be very fond of either of you at the moment, James needs us all and that is more important. When you get this you should come by. You can't apparate directly into my house anymore and we've cut off our Floo Connection. The Ministry deemed it prudent, also, to make it impossible to connect a Portkey to our place. They still don't know if James is in any danger. Apparate into the meadow near my place at 4 o'clock sharp tomorrow afternoon and I'll meet you. You know exactly where._

_Remus_

_

* * *

_

_Author's Note: It's a bit short, but they won't all be this short. That is a promise._


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: Hello. I'd like to thank those who reviewed the first chapter. I hope that you enjoy this one and keep coming back for more. I am leaving for a week on Sunday to go see my family. I'm sure I'll be writing on the 8+ hour train ride, so you can expect another chapter early in the week. Please review! _=)

* * *

**Chapter Two:**** Pick Me Up**

The guest bathroom in the Lupins' home was conveniently attached to the guest bedroom. James was grateful that he didn't have to leave the bedroom at all. Remus' mother would leave meals outside of the door for him whenever they ate downstairs. Other than that, no one knocked or attempted to get him out of the room. The one exception was when Albus Dumbledore had shown up to speak with him. After about an hour, Remus convinced the professor to leave and told him that he'd receive a letter from James as soon as he felt up to it.

It wasn't that James didn't truly appreciate the Lupins and what they were doing for him in this time of need; he didn't want them to have to see him in the state he was in.

_You look horrible, James,_ he thought to himself as he washed his hands and stared into the bathroom mirror.

"You look horrible, sir," the mirror piped up.

"Thanks," James croaked. He hadn't used his voice in days.

"You sound pretty bad, too," said the mirror. "You should take a shower."

"Bugger off." He turned off the faucet and splashed the water dripping off of his hands toward the mirror.

"Oy! You're crazy!"

He switched the light off and shut the door behind his. Eventually the mirror's stream of insults subsided into periodic grumbling and, finally, into silence.

_Maybe I am going crazy..._ James thought as he flung himself onto the bed that he had been living in for the past two weeks. _I need to get out of here..._ Then he thought about what the mirror had just said and decided that a shower would be the best course of action.

About an hour later, James was dressed properly, clean-shaven and he even smelled nice again. Standing, facing himself in a now very complimentary mirror, James checked his watch. "Three-thirty," he mumbled to himself. "Mrs. Lupin usually has dinner done around six... I'll just go for a bit of a walk."

"Have a nice walk," said the mirror.

"Thanks."

James opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. He was shocked at how stuffy the bedroom was in comparison with the hall and made a mental note to at least open the windows when he got back. No one seemed to be in the house as he descended the stairs and looked around, so he just went straight out the door and into the bright day.

The Lupins didn't live in a wizarding village like a lot of the people that James knew from school. Their house was on the outskirts of a muggle town that James didn't remember the name of. Deciding that the town was in walking distance-it was about two miles away-James set out, his hands shoved in the pockets of his pants, his eyes squinting to keep out the sunlight.

James made relatively good time. He counted each step to keep his mind from wandering to those subjects that he did not welcome into his mind. It helped him keep a great pace and by a quarter to five, he was wandering the streets of the muggle suburb.

Kids were playing games on their front lawns with their friends, men and women were mowing their lawns and working in their front gardens. It all seemed so...right, so normal. James smiled to himself when a beagle came running up to him from around the corner. The dog stopped and sniffed at him for a moment before rubbing against his leg. James knelt down and began to scratch behind the dogs ears.

"RUFUS! RUFUS WHERE DID YOU GO?!" James looked up in time to see a redhead rounding the corner. She'd obviously been running after the dog. As she came closer, having seen her pet with James on the sidewalk, James' breath caught in his throat. He knew this girl...

"There you are, boy," she said, slowing to a walk. "Don't you do that. I'm so sorry that he-Potter?"

"Evenin', Lily," he said, standing again with Rufus' leash in his hand. "I think your dog likes me."

Lily frowned. "Thanks for stopping him, I guess," she said slowly. "What are you doing here?"

James chuckled to himself because he knew what she was thinking. She was thinking that he had finally begun to stalk her. "I'm staying with Remus' family," he said. "They live outside of town."

"I know where Remus lives," she snapped.

James took a step back. "Whoa, sorry..."

Lily sighed angrily. "Just give me Rufus."

"You sure you can handle him?" She frowned and his smile disappeared. "Sorry..."

"I was carrying groceries, thank you very much, and he started to run because Mr. Johnston started up his lawn mower and it scared Rufus."

James nodded. "Would you like a hand? I can go grab your groceries if you'd like..."

Lily looked James up and down, one eyebrow raised. "We've been standing here for almost three minutes and you haven't asked me on a date," she pointed out. He nodded. "Should I be concerned." He shook his head. "Alright."

She turned and began walking back the way she came from. James and Rufus shared a look and then jogged to catch up with her. She was keeping a brisk pace. "So...how's your summer been so far?" he asked slowly.

"Alright," Lily answered. He could tell she was still waiting for him to do something inappropriate.

"Listen, Lily," he began. She cut him off with an impatient sigh.

"You know, James, I. Don't. Want. To go out. With. You. Stop. Trying." She tugged Rufus' leash from him as he stopped dead and continued on.

Running a hand through his hair unconsciously, James sighed sadly. He began to jog to catch up with Lily again. By the time he did so, she was already trying to balance all of her bags while trying to keep hold of Rufus' leash. James grabbed the four bags, two balanced in each arm, and said, "I wasn't going to ask you out."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Well then what were you going to say, Potter?" She said his surname with as much venom as she could muster at that moment, he could tell.

"I was going to apologize, actually," James said, following her up the sidewalk. "I want to say that I'm sorry for...well, for everything that I've ever done to you. It...it was just wrong of me to think that you'd want to date a loser who can, one, only ever talk about himself and Quidditch and, two, a loser who obviously can't take a hint. And a loser who makes it his business to torture your best friend because the loser's jealous that your best friend gets to spend so much time with you. I'm...I'm just really sorry for the past six years. I hope that you can forgive me, not that I expect you to anytime soon."

Lily slowed down and then eventually came to a halt. James turned to face her. "Are you being serious?" she asked skeptically.

"Yes," James said, looking her directly in the eye.

She was silent for a moment. James thought that she looked like a great internal battle was raging inside of her head. Finally, she looked up at him. "Apology accepted, James."

A genuine smile broke across his face for the first time in weeks. "Thank you."

She pointed to the house next to the one that they were standing in front of. "That's my house," she said. "I can take it from here if you've got somewhere to be."

"Nowhere to be for me," he said, his smile faltering a bit. "I can bring them inside for you."

"Thank you."

Lily led him through the sitting room and into the kitchen where he placed the four grocery bags onto the table. He began to unpack them as Lily unhooked Rufus' leash and sent him into the backyard. "You don't have to do that," she said awkwardly, taking frozen peas out of his hand and walking over to the freezer.

"Just trying to help," he said. "Where's your family?"

"My sister is on holiday with her fiancé and his family," Lily said, gathering the cereal boxes and heading over to the correct cabinet. "And my parents are on a second honeymoon in Italy. I've got the house to myself until next weekend."

"Must be lonely," James said, rocking back and forth from his heels to the balls of his feet.

"It's quite nice actually," Lily said. "It's peaceful." She finished putting away the groceries in silence. James wondered if he should excuse himself and head back to the Lupins'. It was nearly six o'clock. "So how has your summer been, then?" Lily finally spoke up, shaking him from his thoughts.

"Oh...uhm...hasn't gone so well," James said slowly, scratching the back of his head.

"Sorry," said Lily. "Why's that?"

"Do you get the Prophet here?" James asked after a moment, not wanting to actually say anything about it.

"No," Lily said. "Why? Has something happened in the wizarding world?"

"Yes," said James. He took a deep, steadying breath and let it out slowly. "My parents were murdered by a dark wizard." Immediately, tears began to sting his eyes. He held them back with every drop of strength he had.

"Oh...oh my...James..."

"Yeah," he breathed.

"Is that where all your new found perspective is coming from?" James nodded. "I'm so sorry... That's...it's horrible."

James nodded. "I suggest getting a subscription to the Prophet," he said, trying to push the specific thoughts of his parents from his mind. "Mr. Lupin has been talking a lot about what's been going on... I've been shut up in the guest room, but I can hear them through the door. Apparently muggles and muggleborns are in a lot of danger from this nutjob."

Lily nodded slowly. "I'll send in the order tonight," she said. "Is it just one guy?"

"Apparently he's got a bunch of equally crazy followers," James said. "I think Mr. Lupin said they called themselves the Death Eaters, or something like that. I'm not sure. I haven't been reading the paper much myself... In fact, this is the first time I've left that bedroom since the night I arrived there."

Lily looked like she didn't have a clue what to say, so James went on, "Sorry, I don't mean to scare you."

"No, no, it's quite alright," she said quickly. "It's just..." She bit her lip. "Why don't you stay for dinner? I'm making chicken and mashed potatoes and I have enough for both of us."

"Er... Yeah. Yeah, I'd love to."

* * *

It was nearly nine o'clock when James finally apparated into the field near Remus' house. As he was walking toward the Lupins' three young men were walking his way. He wasn't surprised to see Remus, but the short blonde and the tall black-haired young men gave him a shock. Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew...

"James! Where have you been?!" Remus shouted, rushing toward him.

"Hey," James said quietly. Sirius and Peter had hung back. "What are Sirius and Peter doing here?"

"I wrote them," Remus said. "I thought maybe...you know, if you had us all together it would cheer you up, convince you to get out of bed. Apparently I didn't need to..."

"Yeah...the mirror insulted me, so I decided a walk might clear my mind," James said as Sirius and Peter caught up to them. "I didn't think I'd be gone this long, but I ran into Lily Evans and we got to talking. I ended up having dinner with her."

"Nice, mate," Sirius said clapping him on the back.

"I'm sad, it doesn't mean my memory's been erased," James said, stepping away from Sirius' hand. Sirius bit his lip and glanced at Peter. "I still think what you did was ridiculously stupid and shortsighted. You're both idiots."

"Well said," Remus muttered. "Too nice, but well said."

"_Having _said that," James went on, "I suggest that you guys prepare thoroughly for court next week. If you don't end up in Azkaban we'll go to Diagon Alley and...and maybe things can get better between us all." He raised his eyebrows at Remus who nodded slowly.

With that, James turned toward the house and began to walk toward it. Remus nodded at the other two and followed James. "What did you do with them since I wasn't there?" James asked.

"We talked about what happened between wondering what in Merlin's name you were doing," Remus said. He chuckled to himself a little. "I think I'm ready to start talking to them again," he said. "I mean, it's been a couple of months...but I can't completely hate them with all they've done for me in the past."

"True..."

"But I can keep them dangling for a little while longer, can't I?"

James clapped Remus on the back. "That's my Remus."

"So what did you do at Lily's?" Remus asked suggestively.

"Very funny," James said quietly. He became more subdued. "We talked about what happened," he said. "She...she's just really easy to talk to. I don't really want to talk about it right now, though."

"Fair enough," said Remus.

"She's invited us both over on Monday night for dinner," James said. "What do you think?"

"I think that's a great idea," said Remus. "I'm glad you're getting out of the house...speaking of which, you need to write to Dumbledore." James nodded slowly. "Whenever you're ready," Remus added. Another nod.

The pair entered the house where the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies met them. Mrs. Lupin was waiting in the kitchen with a smile on her face and cookies on the table. James had a long night of apologies and thank you's ahead of him, but he was okay with that. He knew that Remus' parents would understand.

* * *

_Professor Dumbledore:_

_To start off, I'd like to apologize for not seeing you when you were at the Lupins' home. I was extremely overwhelmed... I still am, really. _

_Anyway, whenever you're free, I'm ready to meet with you. Mr. Lupin wouldn't tell me what this is all about, but he said that it's important. _

_Hoping to hear from you soon,_

_James Potter_


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's Note: I feel horrible. I told you I would update at some point last week. I wrote half of this on the train down and then just never finished it. As I type this note, I'm on the train back up to where I go to college. I just finished the chapter. I apologize. I hope you enjoy this next one._

**Chapter Three:**** 24 Hour Revenge Therapy**

_Dear James and Remus,_

_On Wednesday afternoon at 4:30 in the afternoon, please apparate to the alley behind the Leaky Cauldron (the one on the muggle-London side, if you will). There will be a half buried glass bottle against the brick wall. Stick your finger into the neck of the bottle and follow the path to find me._

_Kindly throw this note into the fire once you've read it. As you have probably determined by the fact that Joseph has given it to you rather than me sending it by owl, this is a bit of a secret._

_Looking forward to seeing you soon,_

_  
Albus Dumbledore_

* * *

James Potter appeared out of nowhere in a back alley in London. Less than a second later, Remus Lupin appeared almost on top of him. "Were we seriously thinking of exactly the same spot?" Remus questioned as he balanced himself.

"Must have been," James said as he shrugged. "Ah, there it is," he added, spotting the bottle. He dropped his voice to a whisper. "Do you see anyone around."

"We're alone," Remus assured him.

James bent down and stuck his finger into the bottle. The hole grew until it was big enough for his entire body to fit through it. James looked up at Remus, his eyebrows raised slightly. "Is he serious?"

"I think so," said Remus solemnly. He looked over his shoulder to make sure nobody was watching. "We might as well get this over with," he said. "I have a feeling that this is going to be about as uncomfortable as apparating."

James bit his lip. "Cheers," he said, shrugging. He hopped into the bottle. It was like a gigantic slide. The tube twisted and turned. James thought that he must have gone at least a quarter of a mile when, finally, he came shooting out of a ceiling, landing comfortably in a very squishy armchair. He felt a bit disoriented and began looking around slowly.

In the far corner of the room, a fire was roaring, effectively lighting and heating the room. There wasn't much else to the room. Candles were floating in midair just like they did in Hogwarts' Great Hall. There were six desks and a lot of comfortable looking chairs.

"I suggest you move, Mr. Potter," a voice said from in front of him. James' head snapped around and he saw Professor Dumbledore. "Mr. Lupin should be arriving in just a moment." James jumped up and spun around just in time to see Remus drop into the seat he had just vacated. "Good morning, boys!" said Albus Dumbledore. He was exceptionally cheerful.

"It's half past four in the afternoon, sir," Remus pointed out hesitantly.

"Oh well," Dumbledore said. "I'm sure you're wondering why I wanted to see you both, so I will get straight to business." James and Remus glanced at each other confusedly but did not interrupt. "First, Mr. Potter, I would like to offer my condolences to you. Your parents were truly exceptional people and they will be missed by everyone."

James bit his lip as hard as he could. He had not cried in nearly twenty-four hours and he was hoping to keep it that way. However, he felt the familiar sting of tears behind his eyes and the lump forming in his throat.

Dumbledore went on, "Their murder was a senseless act of violence. They were only chosen because they were known, and it was very wrong. I would like to offer you a way to strike back against the people who have done this to you."

Both James and Remus straightened up at this. "How?" James managed to get out.

"I have formed an organization called the Order of The Phoenix," said Dumbledore. "Your father works with me, Remus. We are a very small but dedicated group whose aim it is to take down the one they're calling He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. His followers are called him the Dark Lord. However, I prefer to call him Voldemort, for fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself."

"They're calling him You-Know-Who and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in the papers because they're scared of him?" Remus asked.

"Yes, they are," said Dumbledore. "In letters sent to the Prophet, there have been threats. It is said that one such letter threatened to murder an entire muggle suburb if his true name ever appeared in print again. They say that we all must show the Dark Lord proper respect. That man deserves nothing of the sort. He is not a great man. He is a great wizard, this is true. He is very powerful magically, but he is not a great man, and he does not deserve anything near respect.

"However, people are scared. They don't want what has happened to your parents to happen to their families." He nodded at James. "And so they give this terrorist what he wants. And that is part of what makes him so dangerous."

"So what does the Order of The Phoenix do?" Remus asked. "And seeing what it took to get to this office and the fact that my father has never mentioned being a part of any order of anything, I'm assuming it's all a big secret...why is that? What can you do that the Ministry can't?"

"We can see the truth," Dumbledore said simply. "This group is a secret because some of the things that we do, and we do them with heavy hearts but for the greater good, are illegal according to Ministry laws. Your father never mentioned anything because he could lose his job as an auror were anybody to even suspect that he was in league with a secret lawbreaking society.

"You see, boys, the man who calls himself Lord Voldemort used to be a student of mine. Ever since I first met him, I knew that there was something about him that was not right. To make a very long story a considerably shorter one for your benefits, I collected evidence that he has been killing magical folk and muggles alike without so much as a droplet of remorse since before he even graduated from Hogwarts.

"The Minister told me that I was being absurd and that the reports were all accounted for. People had been caught and some had even confessed to the killings. He told me it was preposterous to think that such a bright young man would have done all of these horrible, unthinkable things. And so I left the Ministry and I knew that I had to do something. I've been recruiting some trustworthy people such as yourselves. I need people who are magically and mentally powerful...people who need to do the right thing because it is the right thing to do regardless of what that might mean for them.

"In the middle of setting up our offices, the murder of your parents happened. I don't believe the Ministry has put together that the student I had brought them evidence against and this Lord Voldemort character are actually the same man. He has magically altered his appearance, it is quite disturbing...

"Anyway, as of right now, Order members are looking for followers. We need to get one step ahead of him and find out his next plans. I believe more very horrible murders are in store and I believe that they will be coming soon. I would like you two to join the Order because I believe that we truly can do some good. I believe that we can save lives and who knows, we may even get to Voldemort himself.

"If the Ministry were competent enough to realize the threat we are all facing, I wouldn't be asking this of you, especially because you're both still in school, but I am. Please join the Order. I need members to help defend Hogwarts in the event of an attack. And after you graduate you would move on to different types of assignments depending on the situation down the road."

Dumbledore paused and pierced both boys with his sharp blue eyes. "The world, wizarding and muggle alike, needs our help whether they know it or not," he said slowly, bringing his explanation to a close.

The boys sat in silence for a moment. They were both thinking about everything that Dumbledore had just told them. It was James who was the first to speak, causing Remus' head to lift. "Sir," he said, "if I could stop other people from having to feel the kind of pain that I'm going through... I'll do whatever you need me to do, sir."

Remus looked from James to Professor Dumbledore. "I'm in as well," he said. "I can't let James do this alone, he'd get lost or something."

All three of them smiled slightly.

* * *

August brought a considerable amount of mist to the area where the Lupins resided. People began to drag their winter clothing out of their basements in search of sweaters to combat the unseasonable chill that was gripping the area. James Potter zipped his jacked all the way up as he and Remus Lupin walked through the streets of muggle London.

"We could have just disapparated from the office," James grumbled.

"You know we can't disapparate from there," said Remus. "There's protective enchantments-"

"I meant from the alley," said James. "I hope Lily passed her test."

"We're about to find out," said Remus, pointing ahead of them. "There she is."

Lily Evans practically ran at them, a huge smile on her face despite all the dreariness of the weather. "I PASSED!" she exclaimed. "I PASSED!"

She skidded to a halt in front of them, her smile never leaving her lips. "Congratulations, Evans," said James, jokingly using her last name. "It only took you, what, four times?"

"Three," said Lily in a very matter-of-fact tone. "Don't be an ass."

"Lets go celebrate," said Remus. "Diagon Alley, we'll grab something to eat and then go shopping for all of our school stuff."

"Okay," said Lily. She linked arms with Remus and they all began to walk toward the Leaky Cauldron. "Some of my friends are meeting us at two, if that's alright," she said.

"It's fine with us," said James. "Although, I always got the feeling that Mary would rather die than breathe the same air as me..." he added as an afterthought.

"Yes, well...she'll warm to you once she knows that we're getting on alright," Lily said. Her tone was hopeful. James nodded. "Oh, Remus? Did you get Head Boy?" Lily asked, suddenly hyper again.

"No," Remus said, a small smile playing on his lips. "I know who did though. And I'm assuming you got Head Girl."

"Yep," Lily said happily. "Who got Head Boy, though?" she asked curiously.

"You'll never guess it," James said as he adopted Remus' small smile.

"Amos Diggory?"

"Nope."

"Severus?"

"Yeah, right."

"Hmm...Barry Smith?"

"_Merlin_, no!"

"Okay, who then?" James raised his hand slowly and waved at her. "_You_?! _You_ got _Head Boy_?!"

"Don't sound so surprised," James said, pretending to be offended.

"I...I'm sorry, it's just that...well, I never saw _this _one coming."

James opened the door to the pub, letting her go in ahead of him. "Honestly, Lily, neither did I."

It was nearly two hours later when Lily friend Mary found them outside of Madame Malkin's Robes For All Occasions. She was with another friend of Lily's whose name was Anna.

"Lily!" Mary ran up to Lily and nearly knocked her down in the middle of their embrace. "I've missed you!"

"I've missed you both as well," Lily managed to choke out. "Oxygen!"

"Oh! Sorry!" Mary let her go as Anna stood there shaking her head at them.

"Hello," James and Remus said politely and in unison just as the other two spotted them.

"Lily," Mary said in an undertone. "Lily, _Potter is behind you._"

"I know," Lily said, smiling softly. "He and Remus are here with me." Both Mary and Anna looked completely flabbergasted. "I'll explain the finer details another time," she went on, ignoring their expressions. "James and I are trying to be friends now. We talked about a lot of things and...well, we're friends. And we are going to be working together a lot this year because we're the Head Students...so...yeah."

James looked around as if he were trying to memorize every last detail of the spot where they stood. He was almost certain that if he were to meet Mary's eye, he'd turn to stone or get struck by lightening or something equally unpleasant.

"Come on, James," Lily was saying. Upon hearing his name, he snapped out of his reverie. "You said you'd buy the robes I want as my finally-passed-her-apparition-test present. I want you to do it before I realize that I hate it when people buy me things because I really want him." She grabbed him buy the arm and pulled him into the store, leaving two very confused friends behind with Remus, who only shrugged and followed them into Madame Malkin's.

"It's a thin line between love and hate," he said to Mary as he passed her.


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Sorry about the wait..._

**Chapter Four: Gone Ain't Gone**

"We must strike again. However, we must not underestimate the art of subtlety. Our next acts shall truly strike fear into the hearts of all wizards."

"Do you already have a plan, master?"

"Yes."

Lord Voldemort moved, snakelike, across the room. His almost-ghostly skin was stretched tight across his face. He spoke softly, the hiss of a snake wouldn't have sounded much different. His followers, his Death Eaters, lined the walls of the small room. They had to lean forward to make out what Voldemort was saying.

"Smith," he said in the same snakelike hiss. "I want you and Zander to find the most well-known auror at the Ministry. Kidnap him. Take him somewhere, it does not matter. Kill him and leave no signs. I want there to be no signs of a kidnapping or a murder. He must simply...disappear." The two men nodded eagerly. "Go now."

Without a moment's hesitation, the two men stood. The shorter of the two grabbed the other's arm and they disappeared.

"Severus Snape," the Dark Lord went on. A pale, greasy-haired young man looked up, his black eyes shining with excitement. This would be his first assignment. "I would like you and Regulus to kill some muggles. It does not matter who. Just make sure they make the headlines."

"It shall be done, my Lord," said Snape, bowing slightly. The boy called Regulus looked like he could be no more than sixteen years old. Regulus was dark-haired like Snape, but his eyes were of a lighter color. He strode over to Snape and linked arms with him. They disapparated.

"Mulsiba, Goyle," said Voldemort as he continued to pace, "engineer the disappearance of some Hogsmeade residents. Crabbe, Lucius...Belatrix, Avery and Jones...Travers, MacNair, Rockwood... You all need to find a way to kill the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement as well as the junior Minister. Leave the Minister for now, we'll see if his mind changes about our demands after he sees what is happening now. Whoever is left, kill the Daily Prophet's editor. Go."

Finally, Lord Voldemort was left alone in the dark room. He still paced, trying to formulate the next leg of his plan. If the Minister of Magic did not cave in to demands, then they would need to find a way to assasinate him. It was another one of those grand plans, the one that truly mattered. There was a small formality, however. Voldemort knew that if he truly wished to rule, he would eventually need to face Albus Dumbledore. That inevitable battle actually frightened the Dark Lord. It was unsettling.

As sure as he was of himself and of his own magical skill, Voldemort knew that Albus Dumbledore would always have yet another trick up his sleeve. It was one of those annoying truths that he was trying to see to. It angered him. And the more angry he got, the more people would suffer his wrath.

With murder in his heart, the self-proclaimed Dark Lord turned into darkness. There was recruiting to be done.

* * *

It's funny how time can pass so fast and yet feel so slow.

James was already dressed in his school clothes-minus the robes-when he and Remus climbed aboard the Hogwarts Express on the first of September. It was only ten fifteen, so there weren't too many students there yet.

"We need to go to the front compartment," said Remus, pointing to their right. "The meeting starts at eleven thirty, but if I know Lily, she'll have _plenty _of stuff to go over."

"You talk like you guys are best friends," James pointed out, leading the way to the front compartment.

"We've been nice to each other since day one," Remus said, rolling his eyes. "You two were the ones who were always at each others' throats. And besides, you've never seen her at one of these prefect meetings."

"I'll give you that," said James. "This feels so weird." Remus laughed.

As James put his hand on the handle to the compartment, he heard the loud, argumentatively-toned voice of Lily Evans.

"Just stay away from me," she was saying. James knew the tone of voice well. He had often been on the receiving end of Lily's anger. She meant business. "Get out of here. You can come back at eleven thirty."

"I don't understand why you won't even talk to me about this," came the hushed voice of Severus Snape.

"You know why," Lily spat venomously.

James raised his eyebrows in Remus' direction. Remus shrugged. James slid the compartment door open and stepped in. The Heads' compartment was magically enlarged on the inside to accommodate all of the prefects. There were long benches set in rows. At the far end of the room were two overstuffed armchairs for the Head students to sit in.

"Is there a problem, Lily?" James asked as he approached them. He looked from Snape to Lily.

"It's none of _your _business, Pot-"

"Everything is fine, James, thank you," said Lily, cutting across Snape. He looked like she'd physically hit him by using James' first name. "Severus was just about to leave."

Snape looked slowly from Lily to James and then back again. James stepped a bit closer to Lily. He gave her a questioning look. She nodded slightly.

"Go on, Snape," said James. "We'll see you at eleven thirty."

"Nice try, Potter," said Snape. James heard the daggers in his name. "I'm a prefect. _You're _the one that doesn't belong in this compartment. So _you_ can go ahead and leave now."

"Nice try, _Snape_," said James. "_I'm_ Head Boy, so I think if I were you I'd run along now. Leave Lily alone, she said she doesn't want to talk to you. Go find your little friends and do whatever it is that you do, will you?"

Snape glared at James. "So now you've fallen for him?" he demanded of Lily. "You're just like every other stupid bimbo at this school. You're worse than those three Hufflepuffs that follow him around! You disgust me!"

James looked down at Lily and could see that she was holding back some tears. The things that Snape was saying were getting to her, though James did not know why. They weren't true statements. He was glad to know that she wouldn't back down, though. Her emerald eyes never left Snape's black ones.

"That's enough," James said, tearing his gaze from Lily and directing it again at Snape. "Get out before we have to force you out, Snape."

Snape continued to glare at Lily for a moment. Finally, he pushed past James to leave the compartment. James nodded to Lily before bending down to grab the bag that he had dropped upon entering the compartment. At that very moment, a very unexpected word was shouted to the surprise of Remus, James and Lily.

"SECTUMSEMPRA!"

The curse that was meant for James' back missed him when he bent down and instead hit Lily in the arm. She screamed and collapsed. James leapt forward and broke her fall. At the same time, Remus tackled Snape to the ground. He ripped Snape's wand from his hand and threw it to the other end of the compartment. "Can we apparate from the train?" he shouted as Snape struggled.

"Only the platform," James answered as he lifted Lily into his arms. He barely registered the struggle of Remus dragging Snape from the compartment as he laid Lily across the nearest bench. "Okay, Lily...I'm going to need to take your shirt off."

"Undershirt," Lily managed to get out through gritted teeth. It was followed by a string of profanity that caught James slightly off guard.

He unbuttoned her school shirt and got it off of her as quickly as possible. Tossing it aside, he turned his full attention to Lily's injury. Luckily, it wasn't as bad as the copious amount of blood was making it look. James set to work.

When she had lived, James' mother had worked as a healer for St. Mungo's. She had taught him some basic healing magic, saying that one could never be too safe.

It only took James a couple of minutes to stop the bleeding and patch up Lily's arm.

"You're alright," he told Lily quietly. "The curse only grazed you, so it was better than it looked. It'll still hurt for a while, and you're going to have a scar...I think it was dark magic. I should have been able to fix the damage without it scarring, but..." He trailed into silence. As Lily attempted to sit up, James set about cleaning the compartment.

"Thank you," a subdued and somewhat defeated Lily finally said as James handed her a now blood-free shirt.

"Not a problem." James took a seat next to Lily on the bench. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Physically, it's fine," said Lily. "The pain will be gone eventually, like you said."

"But you can't believe what Snape just tried to do," James guessed. Lily nodded. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, it's definitely not your fault," Lily said forcefully. "I just...I can't believe he would try to curse you like that...you saved his life last year."

James merely shrugged.

"It's not like Severus," Lily went on. "Not the one that I know. He's been my best friend since we were ten years old."

"_Ten_?"

Lily nodded. "He lives in my neighborhood," she explained.

"Ah."

"We were the best of friends," Lily began again. "But all of the sudden last year, he started acting very strange. I don't know what got into him." She bowed her head. "I miss the person he was before he fell him with that crowd."

"What crowd?" James asked, frowning.

"All of those Slytherins that graduated last year. Smith, Mulsiba, Avery..."

"Been reading the Prophet?" James inquired. Lily shook her head. "Well...Smith was caught last week trying to kidnap Remus' dad; he's an auror."

"_What_?"

"Yeah," said James. "They put him under veriteserum and found out that the plan was to murder Mr. Lupin. The plan came straight from Voldemort."

"The man who killed your parents..." Lily breathed.

"Yeah," James said steadily. "His followers are called the Death Eaters. The Ministry milked as much information as they could from Smith, but then one of the people doing the questioning murdered him. The bloke had been imperiused."

Lily sat there, her mouth hanging open. "Are you saying-"

"I'm not saying Severus Snape is a Death Eater," James said quickly, raising his hands defensively. "I'm saying one of his friends is-well, _was_ one."

Lily sighed. "I think he may be though," she said after a moment. "I think he's been lost to the dark arts."

"Lily...Lily, if you honestly think that he's a Death Eater...you need to tell Dumbledore."

Before Lily had a chance to respond, the door to the compartment slid open. James and Lily looked up simultaneously. Sirius was standing in the doorway. "Hi," he said uncertainly.

"What are you doing up here?" James asked.

"I saw Remus before he disapparated...helped him bind Snape's hands. He told me to come see if you needed any help up here." Sirius topped off his explanation with a slight shrug. "Looks like you've handled whatever he meant me to help with," he went on after a moment. "I guess I'll see you later-"

"Wait," said James. Sirius' blue eyes lit up. "I've been thinking a lot lately... We need to clear the air."

Sirius moved a few steps further into the compartment but did not speak. Lily stood and went to find the paperwork she had filled out with all of the prefects' duty times and passwords. James also stood. He moved to stand in front of Sirius.

"You're my best mate, Sirius," he began. He sighed heavily, looking at the floor momentarily. His gaze fell once again upon Sirius. "You're my best mate, but what you did...it was so, _so _stupid. I can forgive you for what you did, but I don't know if Remus can. You need to deal with this with him first. Once you've done that, we're okay...but so help me, Sirius, another stupid stunt like that and you're not going to get another chance...from me or from the Ministry."

Sirius was fighting the smile that he felt breaking over his face. "Thank you," he said sincerely.

James couldn't help it, he smiled too. He held up his arms and Sirius stepped forward for a very intense man-hug.

"I don't mean to interrupt," Lily said after a moment. James and Sirius broke apart. "The prefects are going to be arriving soon..."

Sirius left the compartment shortly after. James noticed he seemed to be in considerably better spirits.

"I'm glad the Wizengamot decided to give him a second chance," Lily said as the door snapped shut.

James laughed. "You're only saying that because Snape just cursed you."

"Probably..." Lily admitted. She shrugged, then winced at the pain. "Anyway...was there anything that you wanted to go over at the meeting?"

"Er..."

"I didn't think so," Lily said in her old smug tone, though she smiled at James this time. "We're just going to hand out the patrol schedule that we worked on over the summer and pick a regular meeting time for the year."

"Sounds good."

"By good, you mean short."

"Indeed I do, Miss Evans."

James was hoping that Remus would apparate back for the train, but he did not. James expected that Dumbledore was taking the issue very seriously.

As the train gathered speed, the prefects began to pour into the compartment. By eleven thirty, all but the two prefects that had apparated to Hogsmeade were seated and ready for the meeting to begin.

No one seemed to notice the Head Students until they stood to call for order. As Lily began explaining the patrols, James noticed that almost all of the prefects from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff houses were staring at him. A few of them were speaking to their friends in whispers.

James bit his lip and looked down at the floor as he realized that the whispers were not born out of the shock of James Potter-troublemaker extraordinaire-being named Head Boy...

"Anything to add, James?"

At the sound of his name, James' head snapped up. "No," he said quickly. "Sounds good."

"Alright, so meetings will be held every Monday night at eight-thirty," said Lily. "Everyone grab one of these-" she held up the duty schedules and lists of passwords "-on your way out. Have a good first day back tomorrow, and we'll see you next Monday."

There was general commotion as everyone tried to be among the first out of the compartment. James helped Lily hand out the right set of passwords to each person. He tried hard not to meet any eyes. The last prefects left, finally, were Lily's friend and new seventh year Gryffindor prefect Annie and Hufflepuff seventh year prefect Amos Diggory.

"Hey, Potter," he said, laying a hand on James' shoulder. "I just want to say I'm sorry about your parents. It's a real tragedy."

James nodded and took a deep breath. He let it out slowly. "Thanks, Diggory."

Amos gave James' shoulder a slight squeeze and then promptly left the compartment. Both girls eyed James. "Do you want us to-"

"No," he cut Lily off. "No, stay. I'm fine." He walked over to one of the armchairs and collapsed into it. He hadn't thought that going back to school would be this hard... Sure, he thought it would be a challenge, but this...

As Lily and Annie began to chat about their summer holidays, James became engrossed in the passing countryside. He heard his own name a few times; Lily was explaining the new, strange friendship to Annie. It was enough to shake him from his thoughts but only momentarily.

Soon, he found himself asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: I apologize for the wait on this one. I've been buried in papers for my classes lately..... The good news is that a lot of the next chapter is already written in my notebook and will come to you much faster than Chapter 5._

_Please review- it makes me happy..._

**Chapter Five:**** A Beginning**

"James...James..."

In one part of his mind, James could hear Lily saying his name gently and trying to shake him awake. "James..." Her voice was like a gentle caress as she said his name. "James...wake up, James." Soon, the rest of his brain caught up. He opened his eyes. His glasses were falling off of his face, so Lily was only half in focus.

As he sat up, he set his glasses right. Lily was kneeling in front of him. "Hi," Lily said, smiling kindly.

"Hello," he said, his voice cracking.

"Hi," she said again. "We've just pulled into the station; up and at 'em."

"Quick ride," James muttered. He stood to stretch.

"Not really," Lily contradicted. She reached up to stretch, but winced.

"Are you alright?" James asked. He cleared his throat to stop his voice from cracking.

"I'm fine," said Lily. "...thanks to you," she added after a moment. James turned red. "Most people are out on the platform already. The prefects are getting students in their own houses organized and into the carriages. We should probably go help sort out the first years." James nodded.

Lily led the way off of the Hogwarts Express and onto the bustling platform at Hogsmeade Station.

"Firs' years, this way! Firs' years, over 'ere!" James turned to see the exceptionally large silhouette of Reubeus Hagrid, the half-giant game keeper. He was towering over a group of assembled first years. "Hiya, James!" he called once he saw James looking over at him.

James waved to Hagrid and was soon leading three confused first years over to the group. "How are you, Hagrid?" he asked. The three students ran to join the group.

"Not bad," said Hagrid through his large, bushy beard. "You'll have ter come down to me cabin fer tea soon. Maybe Saturday afternoon, eh?"

"That should be fine," said James. "You can head out now, by the way. I think those were the last of the stragglers."

Hagrid tipped an imaginary hat to James and turned to address the first year students. James returned to the main part of the platform to help Lily and the rest of the prefects to get students into the carriages.

"Looks like we're in this one," Lily said when he reached her. The last of the prefects had just piled into a carriage and set off. "It went pretty fast this year." She climbed into the last horseless carriage. James made to follow her, but then stopped short. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a newspaper laying forgotten on the ground. He dashed over to collect it and then finally climbed into the carriage.

As the carriage set off, James unfolded the paper and began to read. Lily moved to sit next to him rather than across from him so that she could read the paper as well.

_Early this morning, Ministry of Magic officials discovered the body of Brent Porter. The body was found in the mountains overlooking the village of Hogsmeade alongside those of seven unidentified muggle children. The Daily Prophet has learned that the Muggle Liaison office is working closely with the office of the Muggle Prime Minister to identify the bodies. _

_Meanwhile, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement is working hard to catch those responsible for the eight deaths._

"_We are certain that these tragedies are again the work of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," says one Ministry official who asked to remain anonymous. "We are working around the clock to hunt down him and his followers."_

The article went on, but James couldn't bare to read it. He was sickened. "This is getting more and more _insane_ by the day," he said through gritted teeth. "Seven _kids_..."

"When are they going to catch this maniac?"

"He's elusive," said James quietly. He was staring blankly at the empty seat in front of him. "He sticks to the shadows. He sends his cronies to do the really publicized stuff...so even if they get caught, he's still out there. And he's got people in the Ministry, so even if his people _wanted_ to turn on him, they'd be dead in minutes."

James became lost in thoughts of himself dueling a faceless man-he had no idea what Voldemort looked like. Lily sat in silence as well, she was taking James in... She was worried about him.

As the carriage came to a halt, Lily stood. "Do you want to sit together at the feast?" she asked awkwardly.

James snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of Lily's voice. He too stood. "Yeah," he said quickly. "I mean, I do want to sit with Remus as well...and I know you'd probably like to sit with Annie, so..." He trailed off as he opened the carriage door and jumped out. He offered his hand to Lily, who took it and climbed out carefully.

To both Lily and James' delight, however, Remus and Annie were already sitting together at the far end of the Gryffindor table. When the Heads joined their friends, they were talking about the rights of muggles and muggle borns, half-breeds and 'muggle-lovers.' Apparently Annie had had words with some Slytherins and Remus had stepped in when one of the sixth year boys drew a wand.

"You're the big hero today, aren't you?" James said, clapping Remus on the back. Remus blushed. James lowered his voice as Lily and Annie began to verbally abuse the dark arts. "What's up with Snape?"

"Dumbledore can't expel him," Remus whispered.

"_What_?" James hissed. "Why the hell not?"

"Just because he used dark magic doesn't mean that he's a Death Eater, James," Remus said, guessing at what James was thinking. "We have no real evidence against it. Normally he'd be expelled for the attack but then Dumbledore would be forced to repeal his decision and he'd have to expel Sirius and Peter as well. Not only that, but I'd be chucked out as well because it'd make the papers. People would find out that I'm a werewolf..." Remus paused for a moment. When he went on, James knew that he was restraining himself from going off on a werewolf rights tangent...not that James could blame him for such a thing. "Unless we have solid evidence that he's a Death Eater, you're not going to get him thrown out, James. I think you should drop it."

"What's his punishment?"

"Detentions on Friday, Saturday and Sunday every week for the entire year," said Remus. "No Hogsmeade weekends and no Quidditch."

James bit his lip, but his reply was lost. The doors to the Great Hall had opened and Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House, marched in carrying a stool and the Sorting Hat. In her wake trotted the group of first years that James had just left near the shores of the lake.

As the Sorting commenced, James retreated once again into his own head. He thought of Snape...he was certain that Snape was a Death Eater. As these thoughts began to form, they began to lead toward thoughts of his parents. James had not thought about his family in a while. As he did, he could instantly feel the prickling behind his eyes, the telltale sign of tears.

Lily happened to glance over at James as the another first year was sorted into Ravenclaw house. His face was pained as he fought against the prickling behind his eyes. Silently, Lily reached across the table and placed a hand on his. Both of their friends were watching the Sorting, so this small gesture went unnoticed. James refocused his eyes to stare at his and Lily's hands. She squeezed his lightly and then her hand was under the table again.

When it was time, Dumbledore stood and opened his arms in a welcoming gesture. "Welcome, everyone!" he said happily. "Welcome to, or back to, Hogwarts! We are going to have a very nice year together, I'm sure. I would like to go over some of the newer security measures that we have put in place this year, but I am sure you are all very hungry, so we shall have to speak later." With a beaming smile, Dumbledore clapped and the feast appeared in front of the students' eyes.

James began to collect a hearty amount of food on his plate. As he did so, he stared at Lily. All thoughts of his parents had been reigned in by her touch. An electric shock coursed through him from his hand down to the very tips of his toes.

His thoughts turned to panic.

_Merlin, what was that...? I can't feel that. I'm not allowed to feel that. She's my friend now... She's my friend, nothing more than that. She cares about me now, LIKE A FRIEND... Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no..._

"Right, James?"

James snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of his name. Lily, Annie and Remus were looking at him expectantly. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Where are you?" Remus asked with a laugh. "I'd have thought talking about Quidditch would be an attention getter with you."

Annie chuckled. "Great, now the Gryffindor captain hates Quidditch. We're going to hit bottom this year."

"Nah," James said smoothly. "You wait, I'm going to put together a smashing team this year."

"When are tryouts going to be, do you think?" Lily asked.

James shrugged. "Sometime next weekend, I suppose," he said after swallowing a good deal of mashed potatoes. "Yeah...because I'll need to get a lot of training in before the first match. I'll probably set it for Saturday."

"You're looking for a new beater, right?" Annie asked. "Too bad...I'm a keeper. I've always wanted to play on the team."

"I'm looking for a new beater, a new chaser and a backup keeper, actually," said James. "I like to run scrimmages with the team, so I like to have a second keeper who attends practices and can serve as a backup for the games just in case something happens. You should come to trials."

"Lily should too," Annie said before Lily could stop her. Mischief was leaking from her smile. "Lily's a smashing chaser, you know."

"Shut _up_," Lily hissed.

"I didn't know you played Quidditch," Remus and James said in unison, raising their eyebrows.

"I don't-"

"She's been the MVP of her league on the championship team three summers running," Annie said proudly, clapping her friend on the back. "We play on a summer league together."

"You _have _to try out," Remus said, leaning in.

"I don't have time for Quidditch," said Lily.

James, Annie and Remus were all about to say something, but they were cut off by Professor Dumbledore, who stood again to speak to the school.

* * *

James Potter had never been much of a morning person.

On the first day of classes, he groggily made his way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. He was almost positive that he wouldn't have a class in the first hour, but he needed to get his schedule from Professor McGonagall. James smiled slightly as he thought of how light his load was going to be this year. He had taken many of the required classes in his fifth and sixth years, having tested out of lower level courses like sixth year transfiguration.

When he finally made it to the Great Hall, he almost fainted. There, sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table together, was Sirius, Remus and Peter. They were chatting about something that was apparently quite funny. James blinked a few times, rubbed his eyes and cleaned his glasses...but he wasn't seeing things.

"Good morning, sunshine," Sirius said as James sat down across from him and next to Remus. He flashed a smile. "How's the lap of luxury treating you?"

"The Heads' Tower is smaller than Gryffindor," James answered, grabbing a piece of toast and beginning to spread strawberry jam onto it. "It's no lap of luxury. ...comfortable though..." He took a bite of his toast. "What happened last night?"

"What do you mean?" asked Peter.

"I mean you're all...friends again?"

"We had a heart-to-heart-to-heart last night," said Remus, smiling slightly. "We decided that our friendships are more important than attempted murder."

James chuckled.

"Good morning, gentlemen."

"Morning, Professor," said James. Professor McGonagall nodded to him.

"Have you set a date for trials yet, Mr. Potter?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am," said James. "I'm holding them on Friday evening at six. Are you going to come down?"

"I may," said McGonagall. "You know it's supposed to rain quite heavily on Friday?"

"Yeah," said James. "Anyone can make themselves look good when the weather is agreeable. I need a team that isn't going to fall apart from a little rain."

McGonagall nodded again, an amused smile on her face. She handed James his schedule. "Mr. Black," she said, turning to Sirius. "Have you decided what track you are transferring to, seeing as you are no longer allowed to become an auror?"

Sirius nodded glumly. "I've decided on healer, Professor," he said.

McGonagall tapped a schedule with her wand and handed it to him. "That's good. Miss Evans has just transferred from that track."

"She did?" said Remus.

"Yeah, I'm going to become an auror with you boys." Lily, coming seemingly from nowhere, dropped into the seat beside James. Annie sat beside her. McGonagall handed them both their schedules.

"Good choice, Evans," James said, grinning. This meant that he now had every single class with Lily.

"Indeed," said McGonagall. "And perhaps you would be willing to bring Miss Evans up to speed in the subject of Transfiguration so that she doesn't feel behind. You both have free time before my class."

"Of course, Professor."

McGonagall moved down the table to the next cluster of students after she finished handing out schedules near James. He looked down at his schedule and groaned. "Double potions first thing in the morning three times a week..."

"You don't like potions?" Lily asked. "I got the impression that you were good at it."

"I like it just fine," said James. "I just hate having to _think_ this early in the morning."

"You'll be fine," Remus said, rolling his eyes.

The bell finally rang signaling that students had five minutes to get to their lessons. Remus, Lily and James headed for the dungeons for Professor Slughorn's potions class while Sirius and Peter headed out to the greenhouses for their Magical Medical Plants lesson.


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: Wow! This one his 11 pages on the word processor! Reviews make me a happy camper! :P Enjoy this one. It was written while I didn't pay attention in one of my literature classes. Hah..._

**Chapter Six: Closer**

Saturday evening found James and Remus strolling across the grounds toward the Quidditch Pitch. James was shouldering his broomstick and Remus had his backpack. It was time for Quidditch trials, one of James' least favorite duties as a captain. Remus was the Gryffindor team's unofficial manager. It was his job to sit in the stands and observe seeing as James couldn't watch everyone at once.

"What are the numbers for?" James asked as Remus began pulling signs with block numbers on them out of his bag.

"It's easier to see who's who that way for me," Remus explained. He handed James the signs. "I've charmed them to stick to their robes. Give one to each player."

Twenty-one hopefuls put their names down for the two open positions on the team. James needed one beater and one chaser and was thoroughly prepared for the biggest headaches of his young life.

"Whose on the list?" James inquired. He hadn't seen it yet. Remus had only just retrieved it from the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Let's see..." Remus pulled the parchment from a folder in his bag. "We have Marcus Zellers, Nick White, Jason Fondys, Theresa McCleary, Donald Jones and Tyler Jenkins trying for beater. And then you have Alice Kineski, Laurie DuMont, Benjamin Keen, Douglas Merril, Joseph Bones, Gary Prince, Faye Anderson, Paul Holmes, Phillip Merril, Jennifer Stark, Mafelda Hopkirk, Steven Thomas, Kate Thomas, Calvin Johnson and..."

James glanced at Remus as he trailed off. "And..."

"Lily signed up," Remus said. He seemed to be in shock.

"James snatched up the list and scanned it until he located her name. "Someone must have written this as a joke," he said. "Lily said she didn't have time for Quidditch."

Apparently that meant nothing.

As James oversaw the snitchless scrimmage going on from high above, it became more and more clear that Lily was an amazing flyer. She was outperforming everyone except for Calvin Johnson at first. Calvin was scoring more goals, but as James watched more closely, it became clear that the only reason that Calvin Johnson was scoring so many goals was because Lily was setting him up with so many great passes and scoring chances.

James turned his broom and flew toward Remus' seats. "What do you think?" he shouted as he hovered above Remus' head. He slid off the broomstick to drop into the seat next to his friend.

"As far as your beater goes, I'd say the best choice is probably McCleary. She isn't the greatest...no Sirius, of course, but with some good training you could get a lot of of her."

"I'm glad you were paying attention to them. I was concentrating on the chasers."

"Johnson's dominating the quaffle," Remus noted. "Not many people can make it past your keeper."

"Very true," said James. "Watch though...he never _gets_ the Quaffle. Lily keeps setting him up with those shots. Without her, he'd never get passed Sam. Watch."

James mounted his broom and flew toward the action. He called to Lily from above and motioned her to fly toward him. "Sit out for a moment, will you?" he said. "Remus and I need to conduct an experiment." He flew back to the stands and was next to Remus again in a flash. "Watch," he instructed.

Within five minutes, the other side had stopped every quaffle thrown at them and scored eighty points. James caught Lily's eye and motioned her to rejoin the scrimmage. The game changed course yet again and evened out.

"Merlin," Remus breathed. "She's-"

"Exactly what we need," said James.

For the second time, James mounted his broom to leave Remus. He blew his whistle and shouted, "On the ground!"

Remus met the team and James near the goal post. The twenty-one hopefuls stood a few yards away, all holding their breath and fidgeting. James looked at Remus, who nodded.

"Alright," he said, shouldering his own broom and beginning to pace in front of where his team stood. "This is my least favorite part of being the captain, but I can only take two of you. Having said that-welcome to the team McCleary and Evans. To the rest of you, better luck next year."

"That's bull!" Calvin Johnson shouted angrily. "I scored way more than _she _did! I'm the better player! You've just picked her because you _like _her, Potter."

Marcus Zellers hit Johnson in the back of the head. "Shut up, Cal," he said loudly. "She set you up with every single one of those goals. She is a _way_ better player than you are."

"Thank you, Marcus," said James. "Have a good night, everyone."

As the nineteen who did not make the team left the field, Johnson arguing with Marcus Zellers, James turned to his team, smiling. "We're going to take it all the way this year," he said enthusiastically. "I'm very excited about this team. Now, as you should know, we're playing in the first match of the year. It's against Ravenclaw on November third. We're practicing Mondays and Wednesdays at seven thirty every week. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the week of the match. Is that alright for everyone? Good. See you on Monday evening."

Chatter broke out as the group headed toward the locker room. Lily hung back and James and Remus fell into stride with her.

"Since when, Miss Evans, do you have time for the great game of Quidditch?" James asked, offering up a lopsided grin.

"Well...I can always make some time."

"We're going to murder Slytherin this year!" James said excitedly. "This is the start of a beautiful season."

* * *

The next few weeks passed in a blur of schoolwork and Quidditch practice, prefect meetings and a full moon. Remus was refusing to allow James to accompany him to the Shrieking Shack anymore. Sirius and Peter hadn't even bothered to offer, knowing that it would put an unnecessary strain on their already fragile relationship with Remus.

On the night of the full moon, a Friday, James could be found lounging on the couch in front of the fire in his common room. He was doing some reading on memory charms as he dwelled on his team's last Quidditch practice. It had been quite successful-mostly flying drills this time. His team was impressing him so far.

Suddenly, the suit of armor that stood next to the entrance to the tower came to life, his booming voice making James jump up and pull out his wand. It had frightened him; his heart was going two thousand miles an hour before he realized what the noise was.

"James?"

James' eyes snapped open. He realized that he must have dozed as he read, for he did not hear Lily enter the common room. Her own eyes were sweeping the room. "What's up?" James asked. He smiled at her.

"I was just in a meeting with Professor McGonagall," said Lily. She dropped into one of the armchairs by the fire. "Dumbledore burst into the office and said there was an emergency...said he needed McGonagall to go with him and he asked me to find you and send you to his office."

Without a thought or noticing that he had moved, James was on his feet. "Is that all he said?" he demanded. Lily nodded. She was suddenly looking more panicky.

As James ran to his bedroom to change back into his daytime clothes, Lily said, "This isn't a school thing, is it?"

"I don't think so," James shouted back as he pulled on a pair of jeans.

"What...what could it...I'm coming with you!" Lily jumped to her feet as James came hopping out of his bedroom on one foot, pulling a shoe onto his other.

"No, Lily," James said sternly. "Stay in the tower. Don't go anywhere until I come back."

"James-"

"Don't fight me on this, Lily. Stay here."

Lily whipped out her wand and pointed it at James before he could so much as blink. "Expelliarimus!" James dove for his own wand as it flew toward Lily. "I'm going with you or you're going without a wand," she said matter-of-factly.

James groaned, "You're wasting valuable time." Lily raised her eyebrows. "Fine," he said angrilly. "Come. And give that back."

Lily tossed James' wand to him as she passed him on her way out of the common room. "I hope you can run fast," James said after a moment. He took off, using shortcuts and secret passages to get to Dumbledore's office. To his surprise, Lily was keeping up with ease.

When, two and a half minutes later, they skidded to a halt, they were both severely winded. "Sugar Quill," James gasped to the gargoyle. It leapt aside, revealing the staircase that lead to Dumbledore's office. James took the stairs two at a time, not even pausing to knock on the office door.

When he finally stopped in front of Dumbledore's desk, he was clutching a stitch in his side. "Pr...profess...or," he panted. "Lil...y...is be...hind...me."

Dumbledore pointed his wand at James who instantly felt better. He was no longer gasping for air. "Thanks, Professor. Lily is-"

"Right here."

James turned and Dumbledore looked over his head. "Ah, Miss Evans," said the headmaster. "I should have known you would not be able to sit aside." He turned back to James. "Mr. Black and Mr. Pettigrew have joined us," he said. "They are currently working to secure the passageways in and out of the castle."

"What's going on?" both James and Lily demanded.

"Joseph Lupin has been captured. I believe he is alive, but I know that he has been tortured. If and when Voldemort learns that the Order, that _I_ am behind this anti-Voldemort movement... I fear that it may occur to him to attemt to take Hogwarts."

"I'm confused... What is 'the Order?'" asked Lily.

"I'll explain later," James said quickly. "I need to help them with-"

"No," said Dumbledore, holding up a hand. "You must fetch Mrs. Lupin. Bring her back to Hogwarts. They _will _be looking for her." James nodded quickly. "Take this Floo Powder. Floo to the Hogshead Inn and apparate from there."

Dumbledore handed James a full bag of green powder. "Does Remus know?" he asked.

"He was already gone," said Dumbledore.

James nodded. As he stepped toward the fireplace, Dumbledore began to instruct Lily on what charms he wanted put in place around the grounds.

"Hogshead Inn!" James shouted after the flames turned green. He stepped into the fire. The dizzying journey was short. James was expelled from the fireplace in the upstairs office of the inn and fell hard.

"Oy! Who're you?"

James looked around as he brushed ash off of his jeans. His eyes found the barman and owner of the inn.

"Oh, it's you, Potter," said Aberforth Dumbledore. "What can I get for you? Butterbeers? Firewhiskey?"

"No," said James hurriedly. "I need to get to the Lupins' house. I'll be back in no more than fifteen minutes. Can you keep the fire going?"

"Sure thing, Potter. Don't get caught or you'll end up expelled."

James spared a nod before turning on the spot to disapparate.

He materialized under the tree that was just outside of the security enchantments that Remus' father had placed on the family's home. James hoped that it had been enough to keep Mrs. Lupin safe thus far. Without a thought, James transformed into Prongs. He set off at a gallop in the direction of the house.

He transformed back into James as he approached the house, never breaking his stride. A light was flickering in the kitchen. James stopped at the window to peer in, an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Mrs. Lupin was bound to a chair facing the window that James was looking into. A hooded and cloaked Death Eater was shouting at her. James spotted Veritiserum on the counter and his breath caught in his chest. He wasn't sure how much Mrs. Lupin knew, but he knew that either way, she had little time left. Her eyes widened and James realized that they had found him. He pressed a finger to his lips.

As her captor was turned, Mrs. Lupin shook her head frantically. James put the finger to his lips again and backed out of sight. He crept around the perimeter of the house keeping to the shadows. He knew the Death Eater would have some form of backup. There was only one other Death Eater. He was standing guard at the front door.

James bit his lip. If he made too much noise, there was a chance that the other one would just kill Mrs. Lupin. _How do I do this...how do I do this..._

James took a deep breath to steady himself. There was no time for indecision. He just needed to be quicker than the Death Eater, and he had the advantage of surprise on his side.

James pointed his wand, aiming very carefully. "Petrificus totalis," he said quietly. The Death Eater went rigid and began to fall. "Levicorpus!" James made the petrified man float nearer to him. "Libericorpus." He hurried over to the Death Eater and pulled off his mask. He recognized a man called Walden MacNair. He had graduated Hogwarts when James was in his second year.

Leaving MacNair petrified on the ground, James crept quietly up to the house.

The door was already open, so all James needed to worry about was the squeaky porch step. As he moved into the house, his wand at the ready, he heard the Death Eater in the kitchen shout, "CRUCIO!"

Mrs. Lupin's screams ripped through him. All thoughts of a quiet attack were gone from him. James burst through the kitchen door, wand raised, and disarmed the Death Eater. James caught the wand of his opponent with ease as he shouted, "Petrificus totalis!"

As the Death Eater fell, James rushed over and untied Mrs. Lupin. "What are you doing here, James?" she demanded as James pulled her to her feet. "You could have been killed!"

"Later," James said with urgency. He pushed her toward the door. "Go and pack whatever you can in the next three minutes. We have to get out of here."

"But-"

"Go! There isn't much time!"

Mrs. Lupin looked confused and frightened. She scrambled toward the stairs. James, meanwhile, frisked the Death Eater. He found Mrs. Lupin's wand. He pocketed it, along with the Death Eater's wand.

"Lets see who _you_ really are," James muttered as he unmasked the second Death Eater. "Bellatrix Black," he said disgustedly.

Before James had time to do anything else, Mrs. Lupin reappeared at the bottom of the stairs. James left his best friend's cousin on the kitchen floor and joined Mrs. Lupin in the sitting room.

"I have your wand," he said, handing it to her.

"Where are we going? And why are these people here?"

"Not here," said James, leading the way, wand raised, out to the yard. "The Death Eaters are petrified, they can still hear us... We have to get to the big tree to apparate."

When James landed once more in Aberforth's office, the fire, as requested, was still blazing. Aberforth, however, was nowhere to be seen. James dug in his pockets and pulled out the Floo Powder that Dumbledore had given him. He threw a handful of it into the fire and told Mrs. Lupin where to go.

When he himself stumbled into the headmaster's study, Lily and Sirius sat waiting for them. "Where's Peter?" James asked.

"Finishing up in the fourth floor bathroom," Sirius said, handing James the Marauder's Map. "Dumbledore is on his way up," he said to Mrs. Lupin.

"What's that thing?" Lily asked, looking at the old parchment that James was folding to fit into his pocket.

"Nothing," said James. "Your cousin is a Death Eater now, Padfoot. Bellatrix..."

"Doesn't surprise me," Sirius shrugged. "She's deranged."

"_What_ is going _on _here?!" Mrs. Lupin seemed to have finally lost it. "Why did you come for me tonight, James? How did you know I was in trouble?"

"Mr. Potter did so on my orders, Alice." Dumbledore had arrived, McGonagall on his heels. He walked to his seat behind the desk and motioned everyone to claim a seat.

"What is going on? Tell me, Albus, please."

"Alice," Dumbledore began heavily. James' stomach sank at the old man's tone. The tone said it all, he did not need to go on...but he did. "Joseph has been murdered by followers of Voldemort. We found him...we... We were just too late."

James felt the tears slip down his cheeks before he realized that he was crying.

"Can you three give us a moment?" Mrs. Lupin said. James could tell that she did not want them to see her as she was about to be. He, Sirius and Lily stood.

"The wands of Walden MacNair and Bellatrix Black," James said, placing them on Dumbledore's desk. "They were the ones that were there tonight."

With that, James followed Sirius and Lily. Halfway down the steps, they met Peter. "What happened?" he asked upon seeing their faces.

"They killed Remus' dad, Worm," Sirius said, putting an arm around Peter so that he would fall into step with them. Peter said nothing.

"Do you guys want to come to our common room tonight?" Lily offered. "I don't think any of us will get much sleep tonight...especially if an attack may come."

"It makes sense to stick together," Sirius agreed. "We would need to organize...yeah."

"We'll go get snacks from the kitchens," Peter offered, motioning to himself and Sirius. "A few butterbeers, maybe?"

"I've got some firewhiskey," James supplied. "Calm our nerves..." Peter nodded. "We'll see you guys in a few, then."

Peter and Sirius headed for their well-known shortcut to the kitchens. Lily snaked an arm around James' waist in order to make it easier to rest her head on his shoulder as they walked. James' stomach flip-flopped. "Are you alright?" he asked after a moment, once he was positive that his voice wouldn't shake.

"I was worried about you," Lily admitted. "But you're good...two Death Eaters...wow." James shrugged with the shoulder that Lily's head was not resting on. They continued through the corridors slowly and quietly, making their way to their tower.

"Hey, James?" Lily said finally.

"Hmm?"

"What are your thoughts on...on love?"

James bit his lip, unsure of where this conversation was going. "Well," he began. "I don't think..." He sighed heavily and started over. "One can't fall in love in a world so dark," he said quietly. "A world where a lunatic wants to wipe out muggles and muggleborns-and is-and makes kids murder their own families...kills children and kills parents so children are left to grieve prematurely. He tortures women who he knows won't have any useful information to him just because their husbands are fighting... A world like this is no place for love, no place to get married and start a family."

James trailed off slowly. He sighed and pulled his arm up to wrap it around Lily's shoulders. She squeezed him. "Friendship is a type of love," she pointed out.

"Yeah," James agreed. "It just means we're all going to hurt a lot more before this is over."

"I don't know about that," Lily said. "I feel safe right now."

"Well, I reckon Hogwarts is the safest lace to be right now."

"I think you're the one who makes me feel safe, actually," Lily said quietly. She was watching their feet when James cast her a sideways glance.

"That's probably because I'd die to protect you," he admitted quietly. They both turned red. Neither dared to look at the other.

"Do you think anyone could ever change your mind about love?"

"Probably...but I won't act on it when it happens," James said, sounding sure of himself. "I can't. Chances are I'm not going to survive this war."

"Don't say that."

"It's true, though," said James. "I'm going to fight...I _am_ fighting. I'm never going to stop fighting, Lily. The chance that I'll make it through are slim."

"Well then shouldn't you let love in while you have the chance?" Lily demanded. "A life lived without love is not a life lived fully!"

James was silent. The cogs were turning in his imagination. A scene quickly formed...he and Lily laying on a blanket near the lake. She lay, head resting on his chest, snuggled next to him. He kisses her hair and she squeezes him.

The scene vanished as they reached the common room. Lily hesitated for a moment before stepping away from James. She gave the password and went in. James followed, shoving his hands into his pockets as he did so. "I won the argument," Lily announced, dropping onto the couch. James shrugged. She patted the spot next to her.

James sat on the opposite end of the couch. His heart was pounding, he wanted to get it under control. Lily sighed quietly and scooted over until she was touching him again. She replaced her head onto his shoulder and took his right hand in both of hers. She began to lightly trace the lines of his palm with her fingers. "You said you would tell me what the Order is."

And so he did, the entire time noticing how loud his heart was sounding. He didn't take his eyes off of their hands as he spoke. When he was done, she stopped tracing his palm. "I'm joining," she said solemnly.

"Lily-"

"I can't _not_ join, James."

"Agreed," said James, just as solemnly. "I was going to ask you a question."

"Oh, what is it?" She continued her tracing of his palm lines.

"At this time last year, you wouldn't speak a single word to me-save yelling at me-and now...I'm not sure what's happening right now..."

Lily sighed. "You were such an immature little...little shit, James," she said seriously. "No matter how I felt, I was ultimately annoyed by your behavior. I feel like you're the same person now, but just...mature. You aren't running around pulling practical jokes constantly, picking on other people for no good reason. You can have a conversation with me without begging me to date you. That was the worst part..."

James gave a dry chuckle. "I guess I can understand that," he said. "But...what is this? What are we right now?"

"I don't know," Lily said, shrugging. "Does it matter? After all, I've heard there's no place for love in a world so dark." James laughed as she threw his own words back at him. "We're friends right now, I'd say," she went on. "Really close friends, even."

"I can live with that," James said quietly. He laced his fingers through hers and squeezed her hand. She smiled.

* * *

They all stayed awake through the night waiting for an attack that didn't come. Lily had fallen asleep around five o'clock in the morning. James had scooped her up and carried her to her bed at that point. As the sun began to rise, Peter stretched and yawned. Sirius stood and walked over to the window.

"There goes Madame Pomfrey," he noted. The mediwitch was in the midst of freezing the Whomping Willow to fetch Remus. "What do we say to him?" Sirius suddenly asked.

James bit his lip. "I have no idea," he said finally. "We just have to be there for him. There's nothing to say, really."

Sirius sighed. "C'mon, Pete," he muttered. "Let's go get changed. Meet you up at the Hospital Wing in twenty minutes?"

"His mom will be there," James said quietly. "We should wait...let them..." He trailed off, sighing. "We should go after lunch."

"In that case," Sirius said as he stretched, "I'm going to try for a few hours of sleep. See you at lunch."

"Me too," said Peter. "Bye, Prongs."

As the other two left the tower, James yawned and stretched out on the couch. Before he knew it, he was asleep.

His dreams were troubled. Memories of finding Mrs. Lupin being tortured, his own mother taking her place, his inability to save his own parents, his inability to save himself...to save Lily...

He was trapped in a dungeon of some sort. He was shivering, cold and scared. His wand lay in the corner in three pieces. There were no doors, no windows... The only light came from a single candle that was about to burn out. So cold...

"James!" he head. His head snapped up. How could she get into this room? No doors...no windows... "James!"

He was losing his mind. He was alone. He would always be alone.

"James!"

James awoke and sat bolt upright. He was in a cold sweat and he was sobbing. Lily was on her knees next to the couch. She had been trying to wake him up. Worry lined her pretty face. "It's okay, James," she said carefully. "It was only a dream. Shh..." She began to rub his back slowly.

"What...happened?"

"I woke up and you were yelling," said Lily. "Then you suddenly went quiet and started shaking like mad...and you started crying..."

"I'm sorry," James muttered, wiping tears and sweat from his face with the back of his hand.

"You don't have to apologize," Lily said. "This is...this is all a lot to deal with."

James nodded. He checked his watch. "It's almost lunch time," he noted. "I told the guys we'd meet and then go see Remus."

"I have to go and see Dumbledore, myself."

James stood and turned to walk to his bedroom. When he reached the door, his hand on the knob, he rested his forehead upon the cool wood. "I don't know what I'm going to say to him."

"Well...what, er...what did you want to hear when your p-...when you were in his shoes?" Lily asked tentatively.

"Nothing," James said quietly. "I locked myself away for weeks. There's nothing anyone can say..."

"Just be there for him. If that's all you can do, do it well."

By the time James had dressed and composed himself, Lily was gone to her meeting with the headmaster. Checking that he had his wand and the Marauder's Map, just in case, James left the tower and headed for the Great Hall.

Despite not having eaten since the snacks the evening before, neither James or Sirius was hungry. Peter made himself two roast beef sandwiches to take with them in the way up to the Infirmary.

Upon their arrival, they spotted Lily coming out of the Hospital Wing. She was wearing a look of great distress. When she saw them, she rushed toward them, her hair flying behind her.

"What are you doing up here?" Sirius asked. "James said you were in a meeting with-"

"Remus is gone."


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: Working two jobs sucks real hard... Review please._

**Chapter Seven:**

The Fire in the Heads' Common Room as James, Lily, Sirius and Peter entered. James and Sirius stomped over to the couch and threw themselves down upon it. Lily chose one of the armchairs closest to the fire, while Peter made his way to the window to stare out over the grounds. The sun was setting behind the lake.

"How does...what the...where the hell does Dumbledore get off ordering us to stay in the Tower?" James demanded rhetorically.

"He sent you out of the castle to get Remus' mom. You fought off two Death Eaters!"

"We knew where Mrs. Lupin was," said Lily, turning away from the fire to face the boys. "He doesn't want to risk our lives for a wild goose chase when Remus could be in the castle still for all we know."

James and Sirius straightened up, glancing at each other, and Peter turned on the spot. "The map!" he exclaimed.

"How the hell did we not think of that before?" James said as he scrambled over the back of the couch.

"What is 'the map?'" Lily asked wearily. Sirius had stood and started jumping on the couch to release some sudden excess energy.

"The coolest thing we Marauders have accomplished _by far_!"

"Should I be afraid?"

"It's nothing bad, Lily," Peter said with a kind smile. He moved to sit next to Sirius.

James heard Sirius and Peter explaining the map to Lily and smiled slightly at the look of flat disbelief that he knew she was giving them. Finally, he located the map in the depths of his sock drawer. Bounding back into the common room, he pulled his wand out of his pocket. He kneeled next to the table and spread out the ragged-looking piece of parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he said, tapping it with his wand.

Lily let out an audible gasp as Hogwarts drew itself on the map, tiny labeled dots moving around it. James smirked at her before, turning back to the map. "Here's us," he said, pointing at a small cluster of four dots. "Now we've just got to find Remus."

"He's got to be here somewhere," Sirius muttered, leaning in closer.

"Maybe he's in Hogsmeade," Peter suggested after a long ten minutes of silent searching.

"How would he get there? There's no way out of the school without Dumbledore knowing-"

"Oh, simple, rule-abiding Lily-kins," Sirius said in a sing-song voice.

James pointed out seven lines that lead off of one side of the parchment. "These," he said, "are all secret passages that lead out to Hogsmeade. What did you think Dumbledore was having Sirius and Peter secure?"

"I know, but Dumbledore knows abo-"

"If Dumbledore knew about them all, he wouldn't have needed us to secure them all," Sirius said simply.

"The headmaster only knows about the passages under the Whomping Willow and the one in the fourth floor boys bathroom."

"And the only reason that he knows about the ladder is because _darling_ Snivellus ratted us out one day when we were coming back from Honeydukes," said Sirius. "That's when we got the idea for the map."

"So what should we do?" James asked, getting back to the matter at hand.

"I'll go into Hogsmeade under your cloak and you and Lily can stay here to keep an eye on the map. _Wormtail_ here can come with me. We'll take the mirror with us."

"Why can't-"

"Look, Prongs," Sirius said quickly, "I know it sucks, but you're Head Boy now. We've got to be careful. Not to mention how pissed Dumbledore will be if we _all _go missing."

James bit his lip. "Fine." He lifted his wand. "Accio invisibility cloak."

As Peter and Sirius left the common room, James perched himself on the arm of Lily's seat. He hung his head and let his breath out slowly.

"Remus is going to be okay, James," Lily said with certainty as she laid a comforting hand on James' shoulder. "He's an extraordinary wizard."

"Yeah," James mumbled, "but he's all-consumed with grief and already weak from the-" James broke off suddenly.

"From the full moon," Lily finished quietly. James twisted to see her properly. "Remus told me when we were in fifth year," she answered James' questioning look.

"I was wondering why you weren't wondering why he was in the infirmary in the first place."

Lily only shrugged.

Every couple of minutes, they glanced at the map, knowing that Remus wasn't about to jump out at them. James eventually moved to the couch and laid down.

"Hey, James?"

James looked from the map to Lily. She was much closer than he had expected her to be. "Is this going to be another deep question about love or something? Life and death? Light and dark?"

"No."

"Okay then. What's up?"

"Why do you guys have such weird nicknames?"

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs?" Lily nodded. "Well, you can guess why Remus is called Moony, I think." Another nod. "As for me, Sirius and Peter...can you keep a secret?"

"Is it hurting anybody?"

"No, but it is kind of, sort of, _really _illegal."

Lily furrowed her brow, James sighed. He stood, moving to the space behind the couch. "Don't freak out." And in the next instant, James was Prongs.

Lily gasped, stumbling backwards from where she was kneeling over the map. "Holy shit!"

Prongs smirked; he had never heard Lily swear so freely. He jumped to get over the couch, and changed into James in the air. He landed about three feet from Lily expertly.

"Not hurting anyone," he said again, "but _very _illegal."

"Werewolves are no danger to animals," Lily said slowly. She raised her gaze to meet his. "You three are with him during his...his transformations."

"Yeah..."

"That's dangerous."

"We know."

"You guys are great friends."

"We try to be."

Lily asked when they had become anamagi, so James bunched into the whole story, all the while keeping one eye on the map.

"The magical skill that you boys possess is leaving me flabbergasted."

"Wow. Thanks," James said, pretending to be sarcastic. They both laughed. James sobered up quickly, however. "I'm worried," he stated.

"I know."

James scanned the map again. As his eyes swept the bottom-right corner-the Forbidden Forest-his heart jolted. "I see him!" he exclaimed, pointing. "He's in the Forest."

Lily looked at the map. "How deep in the Forest?"

"Extremely." Lily gulped nervously. "You should stay here," James said, snatching up the map and jumping to his feet. He pulled a small mirror out of his pocket. "Sirius," he said into it.

Lily walked over to look into the mirror and gasped when Sirius' face appeared in it rather than James'.

"What's up, buddy?" Sirius whispered.

"He's in the Forbidden Forest," James said quietly. "Come back to school."

"Are you two going into the Forest for him?"

"I am."

"We'll meet you in there."

Nodding, James put the mirror back into his pocket and glanced up at Lily. "A little something we came up with for when we're forced into separate detentions," he said, shrugging. She laughed a little. "I'll be back soon. If Dumbledore comes back and looks for us tell him-"

"Screw that, James Potter, I'm coming too," Lily cut him off. "How could I pass up the chance to ride a stag?"

"You passed that opportunity up repeatedly for the past 5 years," James said, not skipping a beat, a flash of his old, arrogant self coming to the surface. Lily rolled her eyes and smacked his arm.

"Don't be an ass."

"Right. We have to move carefully since Peter and Sirius have my invisibility cloak." Map in hand, James moved to exit the common room, but he was brought up short when he glanced at the old parchment.

"What's wrong?"

"Death Eaters," James breathed.

"On the map? But how-"

"We need to send a message to McGonagall," James cut Lily off.

Lily brandished her wand and a silver doe sprang into being and bounded out of the window. James filed the form of Lily's patronous away in the back of his mind for later discussion. He turned and bolted out of the common room, Lily on his heels.

Peeves the poltergeist passed them going in the opposite direction but paid them no mind. He was busy torturing the caretaker's pet cat.

As they thundered down the marble staircase, Professor McGonagall appeared in the entrance hall. "How do you know?" James bit his lip. There was no way to get out of showing McGonagall the map, but she would, without a doubt confiscate it...

Sighing, he pulled the map from his back pocket and showed her. Blank shock showed on her face as she registered what she was seeing. James pointed to the place where five Death Eaters were wandering through the forest, presumably looking for Remus.

"Go back to your common room," McGonagall commanded.

"No," James said firmly. "Remus is out there. I am going to help him, Professor."

"We're in the Order," Lily hissed so no one would overhear, "_and _we're of age."

"The longer we stand here and argue about this, the more dangerous it's going to be," James pointed out. Before McGonagall could say anything, James turned and bolted out the giant oak doors. He could hear both McGonagall and Lily following him. He knew where Remus was sitting, it was a favorite place of the Marauders, a clearing that they frequented during full moons.

"Potter!" McGonagall shouted as James entered the forest. "Get ba-EVANS! We must wait for the other professors!"

When neither student stopped for her, McGonagall sent a patronus message to the other professors and followed James and Lily. James cursed this fact as he would have been able to move much faster as Prongs, even if he had had to carry Lily on his back. He also didn't like not having the map. He knew the forest like the back of his hand, but he didn't know where the Death Eaters were...

After what seemed like an eternity, James stumbled to a halt in the clearing. Remus was perched on a low tree branch. He looked alert, deadly. For a moment, James only stared; he saw the wolf in Remus' eyes and knew somehow that he was in danger of becoming the monster he had once thought he was.

James could hear McGonagall and Lily catching up to him. He began walking toward the tree.

"What is it, James?" Remus all but whispered.

James jumped to grab a branch and pulled himself up into the tree. "How'd you know it was me?"

"Because the would have been quieter," Remus answered. "Sirius and Peter are luring them here."

"As anamagi or humans?"

"Does it matter?"

"McGonagall has the map."

If Remus was registering the loss of this important tool, he didn't show it. "Humans," he said.

McGonagall and Lily appeared behind them. James grabbed Remus' wand arm. "McGonagall and Lily," he said. Remus nodded, and James released his arm.

"What are you do-"

"Shh." James turned. "Death Eaters coming. We're going to ambush them. Can I see the map, Professor?"

"Understand, Potter, that when this is all over, that map _must _be confiscated," said McGonagall.

"I understand, Professor."

McGonagall handed James the map. Sirius and Peter's dots were about were about twenty yards north of the clearing. Five Death Eaters were hot on their tails.

"They're almost here," James said, folding the map and putting it in his back pocket. "Get ready."

"I'm ready," Remus growled, tightening his grip on his wand until his knuckles were white.

"Don't kill any of them, Moony," James whispered.

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Because you are better than them," said James, gripping his friend's shoulder. "You know how this works. We bleed them dry in questioning and they get sent to the Ministry and Azkaban. You know Dumbledore may not be able to spare you from a trial. You _will_ go to Azkaban. And you can't punish the people responsible if you're locked up." James noticed Remus' grip slacken slightly. "Good man," he said.

Sirius and Peter burst into the clearing ahead of them. "Fifteen seconds," Sirius hissed.

"Black! Pettigrew! What are you doing out here?"

"With all due respect, Professor, now is _not_ the time," Sirius said, moving behind the tree to where Lily was standing, gripping her wand tightly.

Remus aimed his wand at the nearest tree. As the five masked men burst into the clearing, he whispered, "Reducto!"

The tree was blasted apart. It caught the Death Eaters completely by surprise. They dived for cover as James and Remus jumped from the tree and the others charged forward. The Death Eaters lashed back with curses of their own, but they were poorly aimed. Cries of "Stupefy!" and "Petrificous totalis!" were heard and just like that, the threat was neutralized.

"Good work," said McGonagall. "Especially with the tree, Mr. Lupin." Remus nodded. "I suggest you all go back to the castle before the teachers who are not involved in the Order get here. Mr. Lupin, you will need to stay. They already know that you were missing tonight."

"Here's the map, Professor," said James. She took it, nodding her thanks. Sirius looked as if James had just slapped him. James shook his head, indicating that he would explain later.

Without another word to McGonagall or Remus, James led Lily, Sirius and Peter back into the forest. Once they were out of earshot of the clearing, Sirius rounded on James.

"What the hell, James?"

"There was no other way we'd know there were Death Eaters in the forest," James said calmly. "I'm sorry, but some things are more important than others." Sirius kicked at a rock sulkily.

"Can we move faster?" Lily asked quietly. "I don't like lingering in here. It's creepy."

James, without missing a step, transformed into his animagus form. Sirius lifted Lily onto his back before he and Peter took to their animagi forms as well. The stag, dog and rat broke into a run.

At the edge of the forest where the trees began to grow further apart, James and Sirius assumed their human forms again while Peter continued on in order to keep a lookout for Filch. Lily was still on James' back, arms around his neck, but he let her down as they exited the cover of the trees.

Sirius and Peter left James and Lily for Gryffindor Tower once they were past the marble staircase. James pulled his invisibility cloak over himself and Lily. They didn't exactly fit, but neither cared, the closeness was comforting, and not getting caught out of bed was a good excuse for it.

"Death Eaters on the grounds..." Lily breathed as they made their way to the Heads' Tower. "What next?"

James sighed, but said nothing. Upon entering the common room, he pulled the cloak off of them and hung it on the coat rack next to the entrance. Lily sat herself on the couch. She seemed to be trying to compose herself. As James perched himself on the arm of the couch, he slid an arm around her. "Don't worry," he said, trying to sound bright. "We got 'em. Dumbledore's got to have been informed by now, so he'll be back soon. And Remus is safe, so...yeah."

"Until this weekend, I didn't realize how close this war is to us," Lily admitted, leaning into James' embrace. "We're only seventeen... How in Merlin's name do we do this? I mean...I...I..."

"I know," James said simply. "We need to grow up now, fast, and it's unfair. But we have to do it. Because if our generation doesn't take care of this crap, our kids will have to. And if I'm blessed with children, I do _not _want them to have to grow up as fast as I did."

Lily's hand found James' and she squeezed it. She rubbed her eyes tiredly, realizing for the first time how little sleep she had had in the past few days. "I'm tired."

"Go to bed?"

"I don't want to be alone."

"I'll sit with you until you fall asleep," James offered, standing and holding out a hand. When she took it, he pulled her up off the couch. When he made to let go, she doubled her grip and pulled him in the direction of his bedroom. James silently followed.

Lily crawled into James' unmade bed, fixing the covers so that they were straightened. "Are we switching bedrooms?" James asked, feigning naivety.

Lily rolled her eyes at him. He moved closer when she held a hand out to him. She pulled him down on top of her. Their lips brushed slightly, but neither said anything. James rolled so that he was next to her and she moved in order to facilitate being in his arms. They stared into each others eyes for a long moment, subconsciously moving forward bit by bit.

A million things were rushing through James' head, and yet his mind was blank. He had no idea whether or not to move forward, to kiss the girl whom he had had a crush on for the better part of four years, almost five. His world was upside down, dark. He felt older, by far, than seventeen. Around him, he saw and felt so much death and destruction, and he knew in his heart of hearts that there was still so much more to come. But as Lily closed the gap between their lips, none of it mattered anymore. All that mattered in existence was the way her lips were moving with his own, the way she slid her tongue over his bottom lip, and the way their tongues danced with each other.

He vaguely felt Lily's fingers tangling themselves in his raven hair. Though he had forgotten that any part of him save his mouth existed, his hands now sprung to life, one moving up to hold her head and the other moving slowly down her back to rest at her waist. James doubted that there had been or would ever be a more perfect kiss.

When they finally, reluctantly, broke apart, James was gasping for a proper breath. Lily was blushing slightly. "Wow..." he whispered.

"Yeah..." Lily steadied herself before looking up at James. "This is going to sound really, really horrible, but since your parents died, you've been a completely different person than you used to be. I hate the reason that you've matured into this person, but I really like that you _have _finally matured. I mean...shit. This sounds so bad." Lily sighed frustratedly. "I've always liked you, but not the way you acted. You're still you, just now you don't act that way anymore. Jeez...I'm sor-"

"No, no, I completely understand," said James, a small smile playing on his lips. "In hindsight, I was extremely insufferable, wasn't I?" Lily smiled. She kissed him again briefly. "I could get used to that," he said.

"Even if there's so much darkness in this world?" Lily questioned. He nodded. She settled herself back, cuddling into James' chest. He adjusted his arms, drawing her closer. The next thing either of them knew, they were out cold.


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: Another one for you. I'm not too excited about this one, but I think that's because my next couple of chapters are going to be so good! Haha. Please review and also forgive me for the time it takes me to get these up!! Thanks :)_

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Twittering birds can be the absolute worst thing in existence on a rainy Sunday morning, the reason being that the dark clouds allow one to sleep late. For some reason, despite the rain and occasional flash of lightening, the birds were still ready to annoy James Potter at nine in the morning. As the noise registered in James' sluggish, tired mind, James groaned inwardly. His neck was stuck at an odd angle and Lily was still curled up in his arms.

His mind caught up with him at that moment. He had kissed Lily Evans. Lily Evans had kissed him. They had spent the night together. She was still sleeping comfortably against him. Slowly, a smile spread across James' face. He cracked his neck as best he could without moving Lily and got slightly more comfortable. She was breathing deeply and deep within a dream. James thought it must be a good one, seeing as she looked so peaceful. _Wow_... he thought. He had been waiting for this moment for years, and now that he was actually living it, he was stunned. _Better than I thought it'd be. _he decided.

Lily chose that moment to yawn deeply and stretch. "Damn birds," she muttered, rolling to face James and burying her face in his chest. James didn't know whether or not she was still asleep, but kissed her forehead all the same. "Thanks," she murmured.

"Morning," said James quietly.

"Why are there birds out in the rain?"

"Because they are aware of the tiny amount of sleep we've gotten in the past few days," James said matter-of-factly. "Did you sleep well at least?"

"I did," said Lily, smiling up at James. "You're comfy."

"I try." There was a short silence during which both realized that they had really slept the night-or part of it anyway-together. "So...breakfast?" James finally suggested.

"Shower first," said Lily. "I have the stench of saving the school all over me." James laughed heartily. "Reconvene in a half hour to go down?" James nodded.

He sat up slowly to get the rest of the kinks out of his neck. "I've got to go grab the cloak before I lose it," he said. "Last year we couldn't find it for a few weeks, nearly ruined Sirius' birthday plans."

He ran a hand through his hair as he exited his bedroom and entered the common room.

"Potter!"

Mary and Anna had just jumped up from the couch. Mary, who had shouted his name, was marching up to him. She poked him in the chest, reminding him forcibly-and a bit sadly-of his mother. "Where. Is. Lily."

"Calm down, Mary," Anna said, throwing James an apologetic look. "I'm sure James didn't throw her off the Astronomy Tower or anything."

"Potter, where is Lily? She was supposed to meet us for a tutoring session and we haven't seen her in _days_! What the h-" Mary's jaw dropped. Lily had just emerged, hair a mess and clothes wrinkled, from James' bedroom.

Anna's face broke into an enormous smile. "Good morning, sunshine," she said in a sing-song voice.

"Oh...my...God..."

"Now, Mary, I know how this looks-"

"What the _fuck_, Lily?!" Mary burst.

James raised his eyebrows at Anna who mouthed, "Don't take it personally." Then, she turned to Mary. "Calm down, Mary."

"It's not what it looks like!" Lily exclaimed. "We only slept together."

As soon as the words left her lips, Lily's face went beat red and her friends' eyebrows shot up. James chose this moment to interject. "What she means by that," he said, "is that I was having a hard time last night. A lot has been going on with Remus and it's been rough on me, too, so she sat with me to talk last night and we both fell asleep after a while."

"See, Mary? He's not a murderer," Anna said amusedly. "Do you two want to join us for breakfast?"

"We were going to take showers then go down," Lily said quietly. Her face was still red, her eyes on her shoes.

"We'll meet you there, then," Anna said brightly. "I need to talk to Mary about-"

"About how Lily has been blowing us off to hang out with _James Potter_?" Mary said angrily. "Because that's all I can think about and it's a subject you don't seem to care about!"

With that, Mary stormed out of the tower, leaving in her wake an icy silence.

"Er..." said James.

"It's okay, James," said Lily. "It's not your fault."

"Actually, I was going to ask if you were alright," James said softly. Lily had tears in her eyes that were threatening to spill over.

"Anna," she said, her voice thick. "Anna, I'm so sorry. It's just been a-"

"Don't apologize," Anna said decisively. "Mary is overreacting because she can't get past the fact that James is James." She gave him another apologetic look; he grinned. "You two go and get presentable and I'll wait for you in here. I need to read that book for Charms anyway."

Ten minutes later, James was sitting next to Anna on the couch waiting for Lily to get done with her shower. He was silent for a small while, not wanting to bother Anna while she did her schoolwork, but after a few minutes, he had to ask the question that seemed to be burning his tongue. "Hey, Anna?"

"Hmm?"

"Sorry to bug you about this and all...but what is Mary's deal?"

Anna chuckled softly as she marked her page and closed the book. She turned to face James, a small smile playing on her lips. "None of us ever thought that Lily would _ever _come around and realize her feelings for you," she explained. "I knew, though, that if she ever did, she'd fall hard. And she is, James. And that's hard for Mary to accept. Mary doesn't realize that every time she's got a new boyfriend we don't see her for weeks at a time."

"Lily and I aren't-"

"Not _yet_," Anna said wisely. "It'll happen soon, though." She spoke with such conviction that James had no trouble believing her. His mind wandered briefly to the kiss he and Lily had shared the previous night. "You know," Anna said after a moment, "you're a good match for her. You can help her learn to loosen up a bit." Anna then looked him dead in the eyes. "And she's going to save you."

Not knowing what to say to this, James relaxed into the cushions. Anna opened her book again to continue reading. They sat in silence until Lily reentered the common room. "I'm ready," she said.

"About time, Evans," James said, teasing. "I'm _starving_ here."

Lily only rolled her eyes. Anna shoved her book back into her bag and she, James and Lily went down to breakfast. As they chatted about lessons-Lily was supposed to tutor Anna but had missed the appointment, so she was answering questions-Lily laced her fingers with James'. Anna shot him an 'I told you so' look when Lily wasn't looking.

Sirius sat alone at the end of the Gryffindor table reading the Daily Prophet when they arrived in the Great Hall. "Hey, Padfoot," James said as he plopped down next to him. Anna and Lily took seats opposite both boys.

"Morning," Sirius said tiredly. "Nothing in the paper," he muttered to James. "They're keeping this whole ordeal hushed up."

"How's Remus?" James asked in an undertone.

"He won't take visitors," Sirius replied. "His mum was in there for a while, but Dumbledore is moving her to a secure location. She leaves in about twenty minutes. Dumbledore wants to meet with us all, but he said it can wait until tomorrow evening. He's hoping Remus will be more apt to speaking tomorrow. I think he's barking mad sometimes..."

James nodded. He began to collect his breakfast and listen in to the conversation Lily and Anna were having about Charms. Sirius regained James' attention a moment later. "Peter is keeping something from us," he said suddenly.

"What makes you say that, mate?" James asked through a mouthful of bacon.

"He's acting funny," Sirius said slowly. "He's...he's just..."

But whatever Peter was, James didn't find out, because at that moment, Professor McGonagall had stood and called for order. "Please return promptly to your house common rooms," she called. "Breakfast will be transferred there. Do not dilly dally in the corridors. You are to stay in your common rooms until further notice. Go, now."

"What now?" Sirius groaned. "I've never had a worse weekend."

Lily turned to James, eyebrows raised. James shrugged. Anna said, "I wonder..." As everyone began to rise around them, she asked, "Can I study in your common room then? The Gryffindor one is going to be impossible."

"No problem," said Lily. "Why don't you go on, James and I are going to do our...Headly duties or whatever you want to call them."

"Alright," said Anna, getting to her feet. "Join me, Sirius?" she offered.

Sirius' eyes lingered on James. "Mirror," James mouthed.

"I'd be delighted to," Sirius said, looking to Anna. He got to his feet and offered her his arm in an overly done fashion. Even when he was feeling serious, he couldn't help but act hilarious.

As they two joined the crowd exiting the Great Hall, James and Lily rushed up to where McGonagall was still standing. "What's up, professor?" they asked at the same time.

"There are more of them in Hogsmeade," the transfiguration master hissed. "The dormitories are the safest parts of this school. If Hogwarts is indeed attacked, that is where the students should be."

"But they'll be trapped in there," James said worriedly.

"There are many things about Hogwarts that you don't know, Mr. Potter," said McGonagall. "Trust Dumbledore when he says to send the students to their dormitories." James nodded. "A few of us teachers are going to the grounds on patrol, however, Dumbledore wants you all to stay in the castle for now. We'll send word if we need the reinforcements."

"But, professor-"

"Now, Potter, Evans." With that, McGonagall turned to join Professors Flitwick and Sprout.

James and Lily turned to leave. Most of the students had gone by this point, so their journey to their common room was a quiet one. Lily laced her fingers through James' once more as they climbed the mable staircase. "They won't get in...?" It was a statement, and yet it was a question at the same time.

"Dumbledore knows what he's doing," James said quietly. He was staring at their hands swinging together in time with their steps. He wanted to say something about it, but by the time he had plucked up the courage they were a few doors down from their common room's entrance. Lily let her hand slip from his and gave the password. When they entered, it was to find Sirius instructing Anna on the proper way to perform some charms.

"What did McGonagall say?" he asked as soon as James and Lily entered the room.

James shook his head. "Nothing really. There are Death Eaters in Hogsmeade and we're all to stay here unless they summon us."

"Death Eaters?" Anna gasped. "Those people who murder muggles and muggleborns?"

Lily nodded as Sirius posed another question. "The Hospital Wing, Remus...who's watching over him?"

"I expect Madame Pomfrey is staying up there," James said, collapsing into an armchair. "Honestly, you think they could give it a rest. It's Sunday!"

"Oh, like they care that we have an essay due in Transfiguration," Lily complained, dropping on top of James. Anna shot him yet another amused, knowing look. He was beginning to anticipate one huge 'I told you so!' from this girl. Sirius' eyebrows, on the other hand, had all but disappeared into his hairline.

Time crept by slowly that morning. All four of them decided to work together on the Transfiguration homework that McGonagall had set them, mostly just to keep their mind off of the situation at hand, but it didn't do them much good. In the end, Sirius ended up dragging out James' wireless and tuning into a station that played instrumental music.

"Care to dance?" Sirius asked, holding a hand out to Anna, who was sitting cross-legged in front of the fire. A quick waltz was playing. Smiling, Anna accepted and the two began to knock things over as they waltz-jumped around the common room.

"Good entertainment value," James commented, an eyebrow raised. Lily chuckled. "Shall we?"

Nodding, Lily stood, followed by James. With one hand on Lily's waist and one of hers in his other one, James began to dance...well. Lily's face showed shock as James led her through a very professional-looking waltz. Sirius, upon catching sight of Lily's face, began to laugh. "Sometimes it's easy to forget that James comes from a society-type background, isn't it?" he said to her. "He can be quite the gentleman when he wants to be."

As the morning wore on, Sirius fell asleep on the couch. As he began his nap, Anna continued with her homework. "I'm going to take a bath," Lily announced.

"You showered a couple of hours ago," James pointed out.

"So?" Lily disappeared into her room and after a few moments, James heard the tap running. James used his wand to summon his school bag and began his charms homework as well, however he was soon alone in schoolwork. Anna nodded off and not until she gave a slight snore did James realize that he was the only one awake. Checking his watch, he saw that it had been nearly an hour and a half since Lily had left for her bath.

Giving Charms up as a bad job, James stood and stretched. His back cracked in a few places. "Oy," he breathed. Slowly, he made his way into Lily's bedroom. The bathroom door wasn't closed all the way, but he knocked softly all the same. "Hmm?"

James poked his head into the bathroom and saw that Lily was completely covered by bubbles. As he fully entered the room and closed the door behind himself, he said, "I was just wondering if you'd drowned in here."

"Very funny," Lily said. Her eyes were closed, her head leaning back on a bath pillow. The tub was the size of a small in-ground swimming pool. The multicolored bubbles on the surface of the bath water were growing bigger and shrinking every few moments. When she opened her eyes and saw him admiring the bubbles, she smiled. "I charmed them to do that," she said. "It's kind of like a massage."

"Neat," said James. "May I?" He motioned to the floor next to the tub. Lily nodded, so he laid down next to her, using a towel as a pillow. "I never understood why girls like baths."

"It's relaxing," said Lily, her eyes closed again. "It's just nice to be submerged, I suppose."

"My mum used to take really long baths," James said. His eyes, too, were closed. When he mentioned his mother, Lily looked at him silently, unsure of whether or not to say anything yet. James continued, "She was a Healer at St. Mungo's. She worked really hard and when I was younger, once a week my dad would have me run a bath for her so that she could have alone time after work. My dad, now he was a good man. He loved my mum with all his heart and then some. If they had to go, I'm at least glad that they went together. They loved each other too much to ever have been apart..."

"What did your dad do?" Lily asked quietly after a few moments' silence, wondering if she was intruding on any memories by speaking.

"Dad worked for the Ministry," James said. "Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

"Was he an auror?"

"No," said James. "He worked in reforming the laws and stuff. I guess it's kind of like a lawyer...every once in a while he did take on cases and help people that way."

"That's very nice," said Lily, still unsure of whether or not James was about to break down.

James sighed heavily. "I miss them, Lily," he said quietly. "I really do."

"I know."

Another few moments passed in silence. James was concentrating on steadying his breathing. "So," he said after a while. "Tell me about your family."

"Hmm...well..." Lily tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "My mum stayed home and raised my sister and me until we were ten years old. After that, she got a part time job at a craft shop. She loves making things, baking...cooking in general really. She loves her job at the craft store. I think she's getting the assistant manager position soon, too...

"My dad is a salesman. He sells cars. It's not the best job in the world, but he's a happy man and that's all he cares about. So long as he gets to go home to my mum he's alright."

"You have a sister, you said..."

"Yes, Petunia," Lily said, her voice a bit harsher. "We don't really speak anymore. She's getting married to a big bloke named Vernon Dursley. He's a jerk. She stopped speaking to me when I got my Hogwarts letter."

"Why?"

"Jealousy, though she'll never admit that," Lily said bitterly. "I miss when we were really _sisters_. Now we're just...we're just sisters." Lily shrugged.

"That sucks," James admitted. "I wish I'd had a brother or sister. It'd make this whole ordeal a bit easier..."

"Well...you have me now," said Lily softly. James opened his eyes and turned his head to look at Lily. She began to blush, but kept eye contact with James. "James I-"

Lily was cut off by a silver something streaking into the room. It took the form of a phoenix and spoke in the voice of Albus Dumbledore. "All is well. They have left Hogsmeade without any damages. We are redoubling the protection around the school, but I am confident that they will not try to get into this place again."

The phoenix vanished.

"Great news," James said, smiling. "I'm going to go wake the other two. Enjoy the rest of your bath."

After explaining what Dumbledore's patronus had said to Sirius and Anna, James left the tower. He had decided to pay Remus a visit. Up in the Hospital Wing, Remus was staying in the corner bed. Bottles of Dreamless Sleep potion were on the bedside table, but Remus wasn't asleep. James supposed they were old. James took the seat next to Remus' bed, but Remus didn't so much as look his way.

"Remus," James said. He waited for an answer. When none came, James plowed on. "I know how you feel, Moony. I felt the same way. When I did, you gave me the space that I need, and so I'm going to do the same for you. However, you also made it quite clear that you were there for me when I was ready. And, Remus, I _am _here for you. Whenever you're ready, whenever you need my shoulder or just for me to listen... Remus, please, just don't keep this bottled up for too long. I've been there, and it's not good."

James put a hand on Remus' shoulder. "You're going to be alright," he said. "I know it doesn't feel that way right now...and I know it's going to take a long time, but you will be. And until then, I'm here for you."

With that, James stood. After one more brief look at his friend, he exited the Hospital Wing, his mind on many different things at once, wondering if it would all work itself out soon...


End file.
